Unwanted Allegiance
by The Hope Lions
Summary: A sequel to "The Ring of Osiris" but will make sense no matter if you've read the original or not. Nina just wants to be a normal college student, but here in Egypt the gods aren't going to let that happen. Joined by friends new and old Nina has to overcome ancient powers if she wants to keep herself alive. But, what will the cost of working for gods be?
1. Chapter 1 House of Shadows

I'm back. So yes, this is a sequel to "The Ring of Osiris" but honestly if you don't feel like reading some 55,000 words you can read this and have it make sense without reading the first story. So I hope you enjoy and try not to scream too loudly as you read ;)

Disclaimer: Until i'm rich and can re-boot it I do not own House of Anubis or her characters.

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Chapter 1

House of Shadows

I am a fool. A reckless, love-driven, fool. For only a fool would chose to go to university in Egypt because that's where her ex-boyfriend was going.

There are many reasons that, in retrospect, picking the University of Alexandria was a stupid decision. One being that the only Arabic I know is what I taught myself and all my classes were in Arabic. Another is that I'm a girl, something the Taliban might take offense too. A biggy would be that I wasn't even dating the boy I'd chosen to go to the school because of, but it's the last reason that really makes my decision stupid.

It led to my death.

Oops. Sorry, that's a spoiler isn't it? I guess I should tell the story before I tell you about my untimely death. I could start almost anywhere in my short life and explain how my death came about, but for the purpose of time I'll start at my first day of college.

I stepped off the plane and looked outside to see the sprawling city of Alexandria, Egypt. A rich mixture of tourists and natives spoke dozens of languages as each person tried to make it to their destination on time. Not a single person in the large airport saw the man, except for me that is.

We only met for the first time in March, but a part of me had known this man since before Alexandria was founded. Actually, the Chosen One spirit within me first was created by this man over 3000 years ago.

That must sound a bit nuts, doesn't it? I guess, if you're reading this and don't know me that sounds a lot nuts, so why don't I explain myself.

My name in Nina Martin and I'm 19 years old. Up until my Sophomore year of high school I thought I was just your normal orphan. Then I discovered that I was some weird Egyptian Chosen One of Anubis (yes the death god) whose family line had been cursed to have to do the god's bidding. Within my 2 and ¼ years at Anubis House I assembled the cup my curse revolved around, got possessed and almost killed by a ghost named Senkarah whose daughter, Anet, was the wife of a man who was in love with my great to the billionth power grandmother, Amnertis, who broke the aforementioned cup and cursed my family. Last year Anet had come back and almost killed me and the world again, but with the help of my friends she'd died.

But on the same day my friend and Osirian (fancy Egyptian protector), Eddie, died too. Anubis had helped him me bring Eddie back to life and since then the god hadn't left me alone.I didn't really mind though because the things the god said always proved useful… or interesting at the least.

"I thought you could only appear in places with lots of death energy," I told the god holding my phone up to my head. (No one else can see him and if it looks like I'm just talking to myself people tend to get concerned.)

Anubis just smiled. "This is Egypt. No one may worship us anymore but the entire existence of this country is based off of worship to gods like me. There is power here unlike anything else, focus and I bet you can feel it."

Shutting my eyes I felt the pushing of magic all around me. That was something else Anubis had been helping me with over the summer. The god decided that since I was his Chosen One he was responsible for teaching me how to harness godly magic as was my birthright. It had been hard at first, but now I could tap into the power when I wanted to (which was very rare. Don't let books fool you; you don't use magic to turn on the lights. Magic is dangerous.)

"I just came to warn you about this city," Anubis said breaking me from my thoughts of the swirling power around me. "All gods are still drawn to our Ancient home here in Egypt so be careful. Mr. Miller's Osirian spirit left him after the Ra incident so now you have to protect yourself from pesky gods and spirits as you like to call them."

"I'll be fine," I assured the god. (Now that sounds odd. I'm probably the only girl who assures gods on a daily basis.) "It's just school. Time for me to be normal."

Anubis only laughed, "Oh Chosen One. You still have a long while until you get that 'normal' life you have imagined in your head." With his mysterious words spoken Anubis disappeared leaving me to bang a wall in frustration. It seemed that each time we talked Anubis left on a note of gloom. I was supposed to be normal now that I'd broken free of my odd high school. I was supposed to just get to live my life.

"Nina Martin," I told the attendant who found my file before delivering me the key card to my dorm.

"You're not in dorm," I roughly translated as she spoke. "You are testing out new house design. We're starting with history majors." The women handed me a packet that (luckily) was in English. Inside I saw the location, key pad code, and name of my new house."

"You have got to be kidding me," I mumbled as I saw the words blaring back at me. بيت أنوبيس House of Anubis.

Somehow it seemed that I just couldn't escape the shadows of my past. Once again I'd be living in a house named after my patron god, and looking at my roommate list that wasn't the only shadow I had to face.

**G1**

**Girl study abroad**

**Nina Martin**

**G2**

**Elizabeth Banks**

**Elena Hobbs**

**B1**

**Justin Jackson**

**Nile Florence**

**B2**

**Boy study abroad**

**Fabian Rutter**

Even though I knew we were the same major, I'd hoped not to have to face my ex-boyfriend anytime soon. Not when his betrayal was so fresh. And now… now I would be living with him, again. Every day I'd have to look him in the eye and think about how he promised to wait for me before getting together with his ex and my friend Mara. Every day I'd see his face and remember what I was trying to forget.

I'd disrupted the Universe by bringing Eddie back to life, and it seemed the Universe was getting its revenge in the worst way it could.

Anubis was right. I would never get to just have a normal life.


	2. Chapter 2 House of Roommates

For anyone who doesn't know me I respond to every review so, if you have anything to say good or bad please review!

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Chapter 2

House of Roommates

"I considered doing the same thing you know," I spun at the familiar voice and saw the gentle face of Fabian Rutter. "I guess stalling going inside and seeing me didn't work out all that well, did it."

"I… I didn't know what I was going to say," I confessed as the boy stepped closer. When the sun caught him right my heart fluttered. I'd noticed it at the wedding, but it was even more profound now- Fabian must have been working out because he was ripped.

"Me either," he admitted with a cheerless smile. "That's why I too planned on stalling outside."

"Weird that the place is called Anubis house, huh," I told him moving towards the door. Maybe if I could distract him long enough I'd be able to hide in my room and prolong the inevitable awkward.

"Nina," he told me grabbing my arm. "Let's not do this again." I couldn't agree more; our previous reunion was awkward enough I really didn't want to have to live through it again.

"You're right," I told him with a fake smile. "Why don't we just put it behind us and act like normal roommates."

Fabian's face fell. "Oh… if that's what you want…" he began before a look of determination grew on his face."You know what, no." Wait, what? "I'm not going to let you get away like that. You see this?" At his words, Fabian revealed the knot of Isis ring I'd given him as a sort of promise ring months ago last time we were in Egypt. "You gave this to me and told me you wanted to have a life with me. Then you left again and it hurt so much more the second time. Even if you'd just put things off until now, I was hurt. Then Mara came back and wanted to pick up right where we left off so I did."

Fabian's face grew blurry as I attempted to hold in the tears, but my cracking voice as I spoke gave me away, "I'm so sorry Fabian. I didn't mean to hurt you again. You were right to move on."

To my surprise, Fabian pulled me into a tight hug before speaking right in my ear. "That's not what I meant. Don't ever think that that was what I meant."

"But you said," I blubbered before he shushed me by wiping away the mounting tears from my cheeks.

"I was hurt when you left and I dated Mara, but when I saw you at Patricia and Eddie's wedding… I knew that was the biggest mistake of my life. I broke up with her at the reception, but before I could tell you how incredibly sorry I was you'd left. I tried calling, but you'd changed your number and no one would give me the new one… I'm so, so sorry Nina. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you?" How on earth could Fabian think he needed forgiveness? I was never angry at him! I was angry at myself for leaving Anubis house, again, and letting him get away, again. "Fabian there is nothing to forgive. It was my fault. I left."

"So you don't hate me?" Why did Fabian sound so honestly surprised? How on earth could anyone, me especially, hate him? He's the most gentle, kind, loving, and beautiful man on the face of the planet. Never in all these years had he done something worthy of hatred.

I was so busy choking down tears that I couldn't speak so I brought my lips to his as a response. Of course I didn't hate him. Of course I missed him. Of course I needed him. So he'd moved on and done what any sane man did, I loved Fabian. I would always love Fabian.

"How can you not hate me? I practically cheated on you!" Fabian mused.

"Fabian. You chose me and I chose you a long time ago. We weren't together when you dated Mara. It's okay, I never hated you. All I wanted was to go back in time so we could be together again."

"Really?" Fabian asked with a cracked smile.

"Yes. Now will you be my stupid boyfriend again?" I teased gently. In response Fabian just pulled me in tight for a kiss.

"Gods now I understand how everyone feels around us." No. I knew that voice… but it can't be.

"Eddie?" Fabian questioned poking the guy to make sure he was real. "Patricia? What are you doing here?"

"Well, we're not as smart as you," Patricia began with a bright smile. "And our college back in the UK expects a certain percentage to drop out after first semester. Until then they don't have room for us so Eddie and I had to take our first semester abroad. When we saw the University of Alexandria as an option we couldn't resist coming and meeting some old friends."

"I would have told you," Eddie assured. "But you my friend kept the phone line busy with your frets about how Nina would respond to you and someone else changed her number." Fabian smiled at Eddie's teasing, but the words directed at me stung a bit.

"Wait, so when everyone said they couldn't give me your new number…" Fabian recalled and I blushed red.

"Maybe we should go inside before our new roommates think we're freaks," Patricia suggested pointing to red head looking out the window. "And then you Nina Martin are going to explain why you left my wedding early and then changed your number."

Glad that I had a bit more of time to come up with some lack luster excuse for changing my number I led the charge inside to meet my new roommates.

"So I take it from the kissing that you guys know each other…" the red-head asked with a thick Welsh accent before we'd even really gotten in the door. "Or are you just a naturally social person?"

"Um… Nina here is my girlfriend," Fabian awkwardly decided. (I will admit I smiled at the word girlfriend.) "I'm Fabian."

"I'm Patricia and this is my husband Eddie," Patricia introduced proudly stating the word husband despite the odd look she got. "We all went to the same high school and as English speakers we all got stuck together here."

"Wow, husband… that's different. Not judging thought," From the look on the girl's face she was definitely judging but whatever. "I'm Elizabeth."

"Nice to meet you," I greeted brightly. "Are any of the others here yet?"

"Elena and Justin aren't, but Nile went straight to his room. He seems like a fun one." The sarcasm in Elizabeth's voice was so heavy I wondered what the kid had said to upset her so much so quickly. "But I guess it could be worse than 8 of us in this house. They figured since we're all Egyptology majors throw us in the house called Anubis."

"Actually Eddie and I are still undecided," Patricia explained. "We're only here for a semester then we go back to London for Uni there. But it's weird though because the four of us went to a boarding school for high school and lived in a house called Anubis House."

"Oh, you guys went to Frobisher Academy," Elizabeth said with a nod. "I applied but the obnoxious headmaster said I couldn't go because I'd been expelled from my last school." As we all giggled and Patricia snorted in laughter Elizabeth looked abashed, "What? What did I say?"

"That obnoxious headmaster is Eddie's dad," I told her with a grin. "and my great uncle."

"Oh sorry," Elizabeth said blushing at the same time Eddie waved a 'don't worry' hand and spoke.

"Don't apologize. He is obnoxious some times. Why did you get expelled from your school?"

If Elizabeth had been blushing before it was nothing compared to now, "It's a long story… I'm not violent or anything. Just a disagreement that led to a petition of parents for me to leave."

The girl's lack of real response spiked my interest, but before anyone could press her more a door swung open with a petite, but obviously furious, blonde standing with a bag in each hand. Without so much as an introduction she stormed past us and into the room where our mysterious loner roommate Nile had holed up. From the sounds of arguing, that quickly appeared my friends and I weren't the only roommates who knew each other.

"What is this the house of friends?" Elizabeth remarked clearly feeling left out. "I wonder if Justin knows everyone too."

"I don't," A brunette American assured us from beneath a seemingly heavy trunk. "I'm Justin and you are…" After repeating our names for our last roommates sake we all set off to unpack. Before I could even get a single sock out of my bag Elena and Nile showed up at my door, grabbed me, and pulled me from the room forcefully.


	3. Chapter 3 House of Ra

For those of you who have read the original HOA fic I wrote "Children of the Obelisk" (Which may or may not be in the same universe as this IDK yet.) This is how Nina recognized Raet ;)

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Chapter 3

House of Ra

"What the heck," I cried as the pair pushed me into one of the large storage closets and locked the door behind me. "What's going on."

"Don't pretend to be clueless," Elena told me harshly. "Did you do this?"

"Did I do what?" I asked rubbing my head where it had hit the wall when Nile shoved me into the closet. "This has to be some sort of misunderstanding."

"I don't think she did this," Nile told Elena after casting me a curious glance. "From what I hear from Thoth she's clueless."

"Oh back to Thoth!" Elena cried exasperated. "Since when are you two such good friends."

"Wait, Thoth?" Wasn't he... "Oh," I gulped after connecting the dots. "You're…"

"I swear each Chosen one gets stupider than the previous," Elena complained like I was a dumb dog who didn't understand English. "Yes hon, we're gods. I'm Khepri and this is Khnum."

I couldn't place the names exactly, but I shook my head in confusion before asking, "Wait, weren't you both aspects of Ra or something? Aren't you the same person?"

As soon as the words were out I knew I'd struck a nerve. "We are not the same person!" Nile, who'd previously been the calm one, bellowed. "We are all incredibly different!"

"Right, different," I corrected quickly. If there was one thing I'd learned from my conversations with Anubis it was that you always agree with the god. "Um so now that we've established that I didn't do this, what is this?"

Nile/Khnum gave me an 'are you kidding' look before pointing out what I would have realized if I hadn't been locked in a room with two seemingly bi-polar versions of the same all powerful king god. "How did two gods who haven't spoken since the 20's, the Chosen One, the ex-Osirian, a worshiper, and a scale all end up in the same house?" Okay I didn't know what a worshiper or a scale was, but something told me that Justin and Elizabeth's lives were about to get a bit more complicated. (As for my friends and me, our lives had been complicated for a long while now.)

"Oh, right… yeah that is a bit odd." I mean it made sense that Eddie and I were together-that was planned, but how did I end up in the same house as two gods?

"You know what, it doesn't matter because I'm going to transfer," Elena (English is so much easier than Egyptian) decided. "Because last time we lived together it didn't end well."

Nile rolled his eyes, "You can't transfer. Ma'at did bring us all together if only for amusement so we'd better not 'upset the order' by leaving."

"If everything is okay then can I go?" I questioned pointing to the door. These two bickering gods were starting to worry me and, if I had to live with them, I should warn my friends.

"No way," the gods answered harmoniously. "Go get your Osirian and meet back here."

"He's not the Osirian anymore," I reminded them quickly. The more I could keep Eddie out of this the less likely he'd be to die for the third time within a year. "So really he should just be left out of whatever this is."

Elena just rolled her eyes and repeated herself, "Now hon, please don't annoy me by talking back. Anubis would be very upset if I killed you. Now go get the Osirian."

Surprisingly unstartled by the god's half-threat I left the closet before rolling my eyes and going to find Eddie. I'd changed a lot over the past year, but one of the main changes is how desensitized I've grown to the freaky.

"What's wrong?" Eddie asked upon seeing my face. He didn't need an Osirian connection to know I was not happy.

"We have a problem," I told him causing Fabian to hit his head on the dresser he moved so fast. "Or we have a potential problem. Turns out our roommates are gods and now they want to talk to you."

"Are you sure this is safe?" Fabian fretted causing me to shrug.

"They said they didn't want to annoy Anubis by killing me… so I guess it's safer to do what they say than to not."

"You know I thought I was free of this when the Osirian spirit died," Eddie confessed as we made our way back upstairs. "But I guess that's never going to be the case, is it?"

"Probably not," I confessed. "Something tells me that our entire lives will be ruled by the wills of Egypt. At least there is no one actively trying to kill us this time."

Eddie snorted at my joke, but I found it sad that not being under the threat of death was what kept something from being a bad day.

The closet had been small enough the first time, but with four grown kinda-people in it there was hardly enough room to shut the door. "Well this isn't going to work," Nile decided and suddenly a second layer of the room appeared.

"What the heck?" Eddie muttered looking at the shimmering veil around him. I could understand the boys confusion- we were still technically in the closet, but we no longer felt cramped because we had plenty of room. "Where are we?"

"Exactly where we were… but on a different plane of sorts," I explained feeling the familiar lack of anything that came with this place. "We're in the Du'at."

"So Anubis had been teaching you something in all those hours he's abandoned his post," Nile spoke impressed.

"Wait Anubis?" Eddie's head flashed in my direction as he spoke accusingly. "You've been talking to Anubis again?"

"Again?" Elena scoffed. "Honey she never stopped talking to him. Ever since the god helped bring you back from here he's been breaking every rule in the book to visit Nina."

"Can we not fight about this now?" I asked before Eddie could yell at me. "We have some things to talk about… but not here. I hate this place."

I considered asking why both gods started laughing at that declaration, but decided I probably didn't want to know. Unfortunately, they shared anyways. "This is the land of the dead… thought the throne room of Osiris and the real Afterlife is in a different level. No one likes this place."

"What's that?" Eddie wondered pointing to the box that lie on the empty plane of the Du'at.

"Don't ask about that don't think about that," Nile demanded. "It's for the best you don't know." Of course being told we couldn't know made both of us want to know more, but you don't fight with gods.

"You didn't actually think it would be here, right?" Elena skeptically asked of Nile. "Because the chances were next to none."

"Care to clue us in to what you're talking about?" An exasperated Eddie muttered, but the gods were so busy fighting (again) that they didn't even hear him.

"No I knew it wouldn't be here!" Nile defended. "But we needed more space."

"You're always so predictable!" Elena cried. "You just make excuses when you're wrong."

"Cut it out you two." At the sound of the voice I turned to see a women with flaming red hair (literal flames) who gave the gods a glare so hard I knew she too had to be a goddess. "And tell the children what needs to happen."

"Fine Raet," Elena mumbled as if scolded by her mother. "Meet another form of Ra, Raet-Tawy. She's the annoying bossy one."

"I'm the one who keeps everyone else in line," Raet corrected. "Funny that I'm the least known of all our aspects. We've brought you here into the du'at because Ma'at, or the universe as you'd consider it, has been set off balance. There are two possible situations that ma'at finds balanced- a living Chosen One and a living Osirian or a living Chosen One and a fully dead Osirian. Either way there is balance-all or nothing. Eddie survives as a counterpart to you Nina your balance in every aspect. However, the balance is set off by the lack of Osirian nature to counteract that of the Chosen One."

"Sorry I came back to life then," Eddie groaned. "But I'm not going to kill myself if that's what you want."

"Certainly not," Raet objected while the other two gods just shrugged like they didn't care much either way. "Without any Osirian at all there is a dangerous kind of balance. The best option would be for you to get your Osirian nature back."

"Is that possible?" Call me selfish, but having Eddie around as my Osirian really made me feel less alone with my odd destiny.

"It's somewhere here in the du'at," Elena answered. "So technically if you wandered around for long enough you'd find it and could stuff it back into your body."

"The du'at is infinite!" I reminded her. How were we supposed to find Eddie's Osirian spirit when it could be anywhere? "We'd die of old age before finding it."

"Technically no time passes in the du'at," Elena corrected, "But something tells me Raet here is going to be annoying and guide you to the spirit. Personally I think watching you wander would be more interesting."

"I don't know exactly where the spirit is," Raet confessed causing my rising hope to deflate. Typical. "However if the Chosen One could mark it on the map I'd be able to lead you to it."

"What? I don't know how to do any map marking!" I wanted to help, but I had no idea how to do that.

"The spirit is essentially dead," Raet told me with little patience. "Anubis has been bragging about your abilities. Prove he was right by doing the spell."

"Wait," Eddie interrupted. "You know how to do magic? What exactly have you been doing all summer Nina?"

Squeezing my friend's hand tightly I flashed him an apologetic smile. "I'll explain on the road. Do you have a map or anything?"

If I wasn't dealing with gods I would have been surprised by the infinite and ever changing map Raet revealed, but grasping the map in my hands I pictured the power radiating around me and the golden spirit I once stuffed back in my dead friend's chest.

"There," I told Raet pointing to a dot on the map. "That's where it is."

"Great," Raet answered sarcastically. "Well don't just stand there! We have a soul to find and balance to restore."

With a simple shrug the five of us followed behind Raet who led the way into the depths of the du'at.


	4. Chapter 4 House of Sacrafice

Chapter 4

House of Sacrifice

"Considering we have an infinitely long journey ahead of us, are you going to tell me what sent you over the edge, Nina?" Eddie inquired only a few minutes into our trip. I noticed Elena and Nile exchange a laughing glance, but Raet didn't even acknowledge our existence. Something told me she wasn't just the serious one, but the stuck-up one too.

"I didn't go over the edge." Eddie didn't understand; I'd done nothing wrong.

Clearly he didn't agree, "You lied about only talking to Anubis once, you've been to this Du'at before, you know how to do magic, but most of all you changed your number and didn't tell anyone. If that's not going over the edge then I don't know what is."

"I just needed space," I explained. "Fabian was dating Mara and you weren't the Osirian…"

"But I was still your friend," a hurt Eddie reminded. "After everything we went through surely you know that even without a genetic need to protect you I'm still here for you. What happened?"

I sighed and began kicking the rocky earth before answering, "It's hard to explain. I remember sitting at my own graduation when suddenly I couldn't breathe. It was like a piece of my soul was missing. Then Anubis appears and say your Osirian spirit was gone and…" How could I explain this? "Do you remember what it felt like when your Osirian spirit was activated?"

"How could I forget? Patricia and Alfie had just freed me from Rufus and I came back and the house was… talking. I could hear the house talking to me and telling me to find you."

"It wasn't the house, that was Osiris," I told him with a shrug. "But I don't mean what happened I mean how did you feel?"

Eddie squinted for a minute before he remembered, "It was like the world had more depth… like I had more depth. I felt different. I didn't feel the need to act out anymore because I'd found my purpose and my purpose was to find and save you."

"And now?" I prompted. The only way Eddie could understand what I'd felt all summer was for him to understand what he'd lost.

"Now I feel like that lost teen again. I'm still more mature… but that sense of purpose, that definite reason for being. I don't have it." Confusion dawned on Eddie's face when he spoke again, "How did I never realize that before?"

"Because I took it from you," I confessed thinking of the choice Anubis gave me at graduation. "Anubis appeared to me with your Osirian spirit cradled in his hands. He told me that while the Osirian spirit had no place to go not only was I in danger, but the former Osirian wouldn't be able to get closure. When I asked what I could do to help you since you'd always helped me, Anubis told me that you still wore your ring despite it being useless. The ring's connection was broken, but Anubis could do a spell that bound me to you that way you could continue to feel my sense of purpose and understanding."

"Why do you make it sound like that was a bad thing?" Even without knowing exactly what the connection entailed guilt laced his voice. He knew keeping him from pain had made me a bit crazy.

"You had my sense of purpose, and I got your sense of confusion," I admitted before speaking quickly. "It was no big deal, really. Think of all the times you got hurt because of me. Or the times you risked your life to save me. I owed you, and I wasn't going to take away you and Patricia's newlywed happiness by sacking you with the feeling of being forever lost."

"Darn it Nina," Eddie clearly wanted to say something a bit stronger, but in a place as creepy as the Du'at you want to be on your best behavior. "Why would you let yourself be unhappy to keep me happy?"

"Because as you said we're friends!" Darn it Nina don't start crying. Not here. It will only make everything worse. "And it wasn't that bad. Anubis helped me get through it. Whenever I'm here, or practicing magic, or even seeing something I shouldn't I'm in touch with my Chosen One spirit. When I'm consciously aware of that side of me I'm perfectly fine. I mean do I look like the rebellious and confused teenager you were before Senkarah? Here I can feel the purpose, so I'm fine." To prove my point I smiled brightly. "It was the least I could do for you and now, when you have the Osirian spirit back, everything will be perfect."

"I still wish you hadn't," Eddie told me with a sigh of resignation. "But thank you."

"If you two are done being sappy," Elena complained. "We're at the first task. We," she pointed to her fellow gods, "Can pass right through, but you two are human enough that you'll have to solve Cry of the Stillborn's Mother riddle."

"No problem then," Eddie told her confidently. "If there is one thing we're good at it's riddles."

I shared Eddie's confidence, but the moment my eyes rested upon the demon all hope was lost. Instead of a head, the creature wore a _guillotine._ I turned to the gods ready to ask if this was normal, but the trio had disappeared and left Eddie and me alone with the monster. Just as I wondered how it would speak, the blade slid up and down while words appeared in my head.

"This place is for the dead, not the living. Turn back or soon enough you will belong."

Well that was a death threat if I'd ever heard one, but we couldn't go back. From what Raet said there were two options-Eddie becomes Osirian again or Eddie dies. I'd much prefer the former to the latter and Eddie probably would too.

"But if you will not leave you shall face my task," the demon continued. "My question is simple, but only those who understand its answer can move on. What aspect of man always comes after it would be useful?"

Wait, what? This wasn't like any riddle we'd solved before. There were no rhymes, no hidden clues, just an honest question about the nature of man that I didn't know the answer to and, from the sullen look on his face, Eddie had just as many ideas as me.

It seemed Eddie and I had dug our own graves and soon enough this demon would chop off our heads and throw us in.


	5. Chapter 5 House of the Wise

There will be a much longer author's note at the end but guest and anyone else who was wondering-Nina's gram died the summer before her senior year. Oh and HoAMR aren't you a clever girl. ;)

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Chapter 5

House of the Wise

"Okay, don't panic," I told my friend who was starting to freak out and mumble about how we were going to die. (Apparently the Osirian spirit made him braver too because this was an Eddie I hadn't seen in years). "And let's think."

"Think about what?" Eddie grumbled. "I mean what is even the purpose of this riddle?" He looked to the demon for a response, but none came. However, something in my mind clicked.

"Eddie you're a genius!" I squealed. "The purpose of these tasks are to make sure you learned enough when you were alive to be culpable for your actions. If you don't understand the world then it wouldn't be fair for you to be judged for what you've done or what you haven't done."

Understanding dawned on Eddie's face, "So whatever the answer is it's something we should have learned well we were alive." Quickly as it came, however, the joy disappeared, "But we're 19 Nina. How are we supposed to know everything about living when we're NINETEEN?"

Eddie was right, but he'd always been my strength so now I could be his. "But we've lived a whole lot more than most people ever do. We've fought cults, ghosts, the Apocalypse, gods… we have to be able to figure these out or the Ra-three would never have even tried."

"Ra three… I like that name," Eddie decided with the slightest smile. "So what do you get when it's too late to be useful?"

"Well you get regret," I suggested, but Eddie immediately shot it down.

"But if you had regret before you did something that made you regret you wouldn't understand what you're regretting... if that made any sense at all." It didn't really, but I got his point. Even if regret came early you'd still make the same mistakes.

"But I think we're on the right track with mistakes. That seems life-lesson-y, right?" Gran always said the point of life was to learn from your mistakes so you don't make them again. But what keeps you from making them again?

"Wisdom," Eddie breathed with a happy smile. "I mean most people who die are old and aren't old people supposed to be wise."

"Eddie, I could kiss you if we weren't like second cousins once removed!" Even if we weren't related through our evil shared ancestor, Rufus, I wouldn't have kissed Eddie anyways- I so don't like him like that-but the point was made. "You get wisdom by making mistakes, but if you had wisdom you'd never have made the mistake in the first place! Cry of the Stillborn's Mother," I addressed the demon. "Is your answer wisdom?"

Like I said, the demon doesn't exactly have a face, but if blades could smile maliciously his definitely would have been beaming. "Yes, you've passed the first test on your way to the Throne Room of Osiris. Good travels Chosen Ones, once-Osirian."

When the demon vanished and a door to where our godly… travel companions… waited appeared, I heard Eddie grumble. "Is there a single person in this place who doesn't know who we are."

"I doubt there is a single person in this place who does," a young man interrupted causing me to spin around in surprise. "But as for everyone who is not a person… even for a Paragon and Osirian you two are legendary. The girl who finally fulfilled her destiny and reassembled the cup. The boy who banished Senkarah, defeated Ammut, and then stabbed the pesky Anet in the heart before sacrificing his powers to save the world… oh yes we all know of you."

"And who exactly are you?" Eddie questioned of the tall and well-dressed man. "No offence, I mean you look nice enough, but can't be too careful in a place like this, can you?"

The intellectual-looking man only laughed softly, "None taken. You'd be wise to be careful. This is the place of the lost, the demons, and the gods and while the demons look horrifying, we gods are much worse."

Oh great. Another god. "You wouldn't happen to be Thoth, right? I mean you just look like the smart, wisdom god, type," I questioned.

"I see your intelligence is truly worth Anubis' constant bragging," Thoth told me with a smile. "Yes. I am him, though if my looks give me away so much maybe I should change."

"I mean I'm more of the leather jacket kind of guy," Eddie noted. "But the tweed works on you. So what are you doing here?"

As Eddie spoke, Thoth had been considering his jacket, but when he spoke I knew every ounce of his attention was directed at me. "Well you did just pass my wisdom test, but that isn't entirely why I'm here. I wanted to see the ones I'd heard so much about, but before you go meet up with the Ra-three as you like to call them, I have a warning for you." Okay, when a god comes to give you a warning you know something big is up. They don't ever do anything lightly. "Beware Raet. Khepri and Khnum are harmless this century, but Raet has an unmanageable need to be in a position of power. And, as long as she's in control of your lives, she's the most powerful one around." Oh dandy. Wasn't this day just getting better and better? "You might not know it, but since Egypt moved on from us and decided to worship only one god we true gods have been involved in a cold civil war. We don't have a leader because the aspects of Ra can't become one again without the Touchstone that is well protected, and Horus hasn't exerted his right to rule in decades. The Du'at- it's an anarchy. I would not put it past Raet to use your lives as bargaining chips to get Osiris and Anubis on her side before she makes a bid for leadership."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Eddie asked frustration clear in his voice. "We can't go on without her; this place is huge."

"And if Raet knows you don't trust her she will make her move then and there," Thoth told us rubbing his chin in consideration. "Sometimes the wisest person does not act until an option presents itself. Hopefully, there will be a better answer than just being pawns in an unwinnable war. I do not envy you two one bit. Good luck, and I'd suggest not telling anyone that you saw me. Raet will know I came to warn you."

"I like Thoth," Eddie decided once the god disappeared and we headed back towards our godly guides. "He seems like a sane god."

"I'm not so sure the words sane and god can ever work in the same sentence," I noted as I pointed to where the three aspects of Ra were bickering.

"Oh good, you didn't get yourselves beheaded," Nile noted with the slightest hint of disappointment. "Well Raet, you're the guide here."

After the slightest eye roll, Raet spun on her heels and set off in the other direction. "You having fun yet?" I asked Eddie sarcastically.

As we set off towards the next stage of our dangerous quest all Eddie could do was sigh deeply and shake his head.

* * *

Okay, long A/N time. I have a few questions for you and would really appreciate if you'd review with answers.

1. How many of you are reading this but haven't read "The Ring of Osiris?" I completely understand if you are- it's long, but I want to post a re-cap of sorts with all the things you need to know if you haven't read the original. So who hasn't read the first one and would like the re-cap?

2. I'm going to start a series of what-ifs. Like 'What if Eddie came to the house at the same time as Nina'. I'm really good at cause-effect so I'd like to know if anyone has any requests for 'what-ifs'

3. If I was to start a kinda-Neddie fan fic based on the quote from the Vampire Diaries "Does Elena (think Nina) enjoy having you two worship at her Table" would anyone read it? Or would I be stoned for abandoning Peddie and Fabina?

4. If I was to start one of the above things would you be mad because then, once I get back to school, I'd probably update only every-other day? I mean i know authors who go a week between updates so i don't think it's ridiculous, but would the suspense kill you?

Okay that's all. Thanks for reading and if you will answer my questions with either a message or a review I'll love you more than I already do!


	6. Chapter 6 House of Truth

Doctor-On a scale of 'I Love Lucy" to "Supernatural" how is your pain?

Patient-Moffat

Hope-MWAH HA HA HA!

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Chapter 6

House of Truth

"Where are we even going?" Eddie wondered as he too noticed what I'd been seeing for an hour now- we were walking in circles.

"Don't worry, I know my way," Raet told him shortly before studying the map for what had to be the millionth time. "I just do get it!" I heard her mumble. "I mean the second trial should be right here!"

"Raet is lost," Nile said with a drunk giggle. "Raet is always lost that's why she isn't allowed to drive the sun chariot."

"Shut up!" Raet bellowed losing her false cool for the first time. "I know where I'm going!"

"She knows where we're going, just not how to get there," Elena told us with one hand covering her mouth. (As if Raet couldn't hear already.)

"WELL IF YOU CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THEN YOU LEAD THE WAY! YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE SO PERFECT BECAUSE YOU'RE A MAJOR ASPECT AND WERE WORSHIPED UP AND DOWN THE NILE, BUT ACTUALLY YOU'RE JUST BULLIES AND FOOLS! I DO EVERYTHING AND NEVER GET THE RESPECT I DESERVE!" Terror rang through me as Raet's eyes turned into flickering flames and her fiery hair ignited. Soon enough the whole girl seemed to be on fire and, well Eddie and I moved as far away as possible, the other gods only moved in closer.

"Don't be so melodramatic, sis," Nile told her like this was normal (and who knows, maybe it was). "We were just teasing."

Taking a rattling breath, Raet's feet replaced themselves on the ground, though her fire didn't decrease in size by much. "I'm sure you know how to get to the throne room of Osirian just fine," Elena told her with the slightest look of guilt in her eyes.

"Wait, where are we going?" Eddie stuttered. "You didn't just say we were going to the throne room of Osiris, right."

"Of course I did," Elena answered before slamming a hand over her mouth. "Why did I just tell you that?" She asked of herself. "We agreed not to tell you that."

"Khepri always tells people what she shouldn't," Nile told us with a nod. "Though technically she's a he, but you know it's a phase." This time it was he who had to stuff his mouth to keep from speaking.

Eddie and I exchanged a confused glance wondering why the gods couldn't shut their mouths, but Raet only smiled. "So we are in the right place! I actually thought I was wrong for a second. That does seem to happen a lot." Red flames burned on the goddesses cheeks as she realized she too couldn't keep her mouth shut. "Welcome to the realm of Ma'at where no one, even a god, can speak falsely or fail to answer."

Eddie smiled as he realized that this was exactly the place we needed to get some well deserved answers. "So where are we going?"

"The throne room of Osiris," the three gods chorused instinctively.

"Where else would OSIRIS keep the OSIRIAN spirit in between incarnations?" Elena pointed out. I had to feel silly for not figuring out before, but something bothered Eddie.

"So this happens a lot? I mean the Osirian spirit dying before the Chosen One?"

"Of course," Nile told him pointedly. "If the Chosen One dies then her spirit is immediately re-born into someone else, but there is only a new Osirian when there is a new Chosen One."

"Generally both the human and Osirian spirit die at once," Raet informed us cheerfully. (Like that was completely a cheerful subject.) "I mean the Osirian just loves to jump in front of the bullet and generally it gets him killed. I think Rufus Zeno was the only Osirian EVER to not die before his Chosen One, and that's because he betrayed his destiny. Oh wait, you father outlived his Chosen One, but once again only because they weren't together."

Trying to turn Eddie's mind from the thoughts of Osirian death I re-directed the conversation, "But why didn't you just tell us that we were going to see Osiris?"

Elena chuckled, "Oh it's not Osiris who will be the problem; he'll be thrilled. Ammut however… not such a fan."

I'd never met the evil goddess, but from the paling of Eddie's face that occurred at her name I knew meeting her wouldn't be fun. Still, we had to do it. Either we went to see Osiris and got the Osirian spirit back or Eddie died; we had no good option.

"Well if we're done here I think it's best we go before Knife that Slits Wrists shows up," Nile said with a chuckle. "Have fun."

Before I could even yell 'stop' the gods had disappeared and in their place was another demon. Unlike the one from before, Knife that Slits Wrists fit his name. A bloody knife sat on top of the neck where the head should be, but words came out just the same; no mouth needed. "You think you know what to expect, Paragon, but you know nothing of these challenges." Oh, great. "There is no riddle to solve, just truth to be told. Once all the unspoken lies between you have gone only then can you pass on to your final challenge." I went to ask a question about what that meant, but the demon too had vanished leaving Eddie and I alone.

"What unspoken lies?" Eddie muttered. "Like the fact that I hated you for a year?"Pain and regret filled Eddie's face at the words he couldn't hold in, and only tried to rectify by digging his grave deeper. "I hated you after you left. I was told my job was to protect you and that, that I could handle. But then you left me in charge of Sibuna and leadership… I hated it. I made every mistake in the book and almost got us all kill. I did get myself killed for Pete's sake! You left me to deal with everything!"

"We couldn't be together or you'd die!" I reminded him. "And I hated you too! I hated that my only real family had died and I couldn't even go back to my friends! I hated that I had to break Fabian's heart! I hated seeing all the texts, the Skype requests, and the pleas that I answer my phone! I almost got myself arrested trying to get a ring that would keep you alive if we accidentally ran into each other! I hated that you got to have it all well I got nothing!"

"I had it all? I had to watch my friends, our friends get turned into soulless sinners!" Eddie cried. "I watched the girl I love slip away from me because you weren't here to fulfill your destiny. I DON'T WANT TO BE THE OSIRIAN AGAIN! I HATED FEELING LIKE I HAD NO CONTROL OVER MY ACTIONS WHEN IT CAME TO YOU! I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER BUT PATRICIA AND I ALMOST BROKE UP OVER MY INTERNAL NEED TO KEEP YOU SAFE! BUT IF I DON'T BECOME THE OSIRIAN AGAIN SOME CRAZY ORDER GODDESS IS GOING TO KILL ME, SO NOW I'M GOING TO FACE THE OTHER CRAZY GODDESS WHO ALMOST KILLED ME AND EVERYONE I CARED ABOUT! I HATE YOU FOR EVER BEING BORN AND DOING THIS TO ME!"

A single tear fell down my face as Eddie yelled all the things he'd ever thought but hadn't said. I knew Eddie loved me, but I also knew he hated me because I felt the same way. "I'm sorry I was born! I'm sorry you were my Osirian! I'm sorry that I left you in charge of Sibuna. But you know what I'm not sorry I'm the Chosen One, I'm not sorry I met you or anyone else in Sibuna, and I'm not sorry that I stayed away to keep you alive!"

"It was supposed to be my job to keep you safe Nina," Eddie whispered softly. "And I felt your fear. I felt your sadness. I felt your pain, but you were across an ocean and I couldn't help you. Do you know what it feels like to have one job in the world and not be able to fulfill it?"

"Of course I do Eddie," I told her placing my hand on his arm. "The entire time you were fighting Ammut I knew I was supposed to be there helping. I had Anubis yelling in my head to go and do my duty, but I couldn't. I couldn't put you in danger like that. I knew you'd be fine, but yes I know exactly how it feels to reject your destiny because I did it to save you."

There was nothing else to be said, so Eddie just pulled me into a tight hug and let he tears of harsh words fall equally down our faces. "Congratulations," Knife that Slits Wrists told us as he reappeared. "Not many can still look at each other after speaking with no filters. You have finished your second task and are free to lie and live as you wish."

"I'm so, so sorry Nina, I didn't mean any of it. I don't hate you," Eddie whispered in my ear before he broke off the hug.

"Me either," I told him wishing it was true. Unfortunately, we both knew we had meant what we said; that was the entire point of the test.

So maybe we'd won, technically, but looking at Eddie's hurt face I knew we'd lost a little too.

* * *

So sorry for the pain, wait that's a lie, I enjoy causing you pain cause I'm evil!

On another note if you're wondering there will be no Neddie story, but after I finish this I might to a reader's choice story...

If you like what if stories I had 3 chapters of one called "together" up. Go check it out. Until next time :)


	7. Chapter 7 House of Light

You guys should thank HOATTSTHG she convinced me not to kill all your feels two chapters in a row… Oh and you're about to find out why this is T.

* * *

Chapter 7

House of Light

"I'd say you two look like you've just come back from Hell, but for all intensive purposed the Du'at is Hell," Nile noted as he gave us a once over after returning from wherever the god went when they poof out of existence.

"They're probably just tired," Elena pointed out going back to her usual habit of pretending we couldn't understand her. "You know how humans are. They need to eat, sleep, drink. It must be so exhausting." While I scowled at the god's treatment of us, she was right; I felt dead on my feet. Even Eddie, who'd been eating before we entered the Du'at, was hungry after the hours of trials and traveling. (Not that he'd ever admit it.)

"Aren't there any vending machines around here? Or a gas mart or something?" He wondered scanning his surroundings. If he'd asked before the trials began it would have been logical, but we'd been progressively traveling away from the level of the Du'at that exists on the same plane as earth and traveling towards to heart and Osiris's throne room.

"Unfortunately, no," Raet told us like it wasn't unfortunate at all. "But if we keep traveling I'm sure Osiris has a coming home feast prepared in honor of his wayward Osirian."

"Look, we don't need food, but Nina and I have been up for over 30 hours, 12 of which have been spent traveling through this place! Can we please find some cave to rest in for the night."

I wanted to tell Eddie that I was fine and we should keep going, but I wasn't fine. Plus, we learned earlier today that lying to each other only makes things worse when the truth comes out.

I don't hate Eddie for what he said, because I said some pretty horrible things too. Still, his words hurt. My gran lost her daughter because my parents were out buying me a birthday present. I'd often wondered if she wished I hadn't been born so she still had my mom. When I'd asked her she said no, she was glad I had been born, but wished I was born on a different day. For the longest of time I thought that meant that, had I been born on a different day, my mom wouldn't have been driving in the rain and got in a car crash. Now, however, I knew Gran meant she wished I'd been born on a different day so I wasn't the Chosen One. Or maybe she didn't know about that at all and it was just a coincidence.

Or maybe I've been up way too long and am over thinking simple things. Gran couldn't possibly have known about any of this, and Eddie only hated that I was born because without me he'd be normal.

"Fine, there is a safe place up here," Raet told us clearly annoyed that she had to stop. "Get your sleep and we'll continue in a little bit."

"She'd say the morning but there is no sun down here so no morning," Elena pointed out. I hadn't noticed it, but she was right. There was light (how else could I see) but where it was coming from I had no idea. There was no sun, no moon, no stars-nothing.

"Of course there is sun," Nile reminded with a boyish giggle. "We are the sun. Down here there are three suns!"

"Ha ha," Elena replied sarcastically while Raet just rolled her eyes. (Most likely the girl was wondering how on earth they were all the same person.)

"But why can we see then?" Eddie wondered. " I mean even outside this enclosed cave there is no light so how is it that I see everything perfectly?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Elena wondered with a tilted head. (Apparently to her it was obvious, but she was a god.) "The Du'at is magic, remember. Whoever runs the show wants you to see, so you can see. If she wanted you to be blind you'd be blind. If she wanted you to be a platypus-bear you'd be a platypus-bear."

"What's a platypus-bear?" Nile asked at the same time Eddie muttered a much more important question.

"So who runs the show?"

"Ma'at," said Elena quickly.

"Osiris," Nile decided at the same time.

"Ra," Raet answered as if that was the obvious choice.

"Ah," I concluded looking between the three confused gods. "So even you don't know."

"And to think they call themselves gods," Eddie muttered under his breath causing me to laugh.

"We're not omniscient if that's what you think," an annoyed Raet answered with a scowl. "How are we supposed to know who runs the show?"

"Basically what Raet is saying is that even as gods we don't really know much," Nile confessed. Despite being the joker of the group, he also seemed to be the most human and level-headed. "There are probably thousands of gods. Over the decades we've met most but there could always be more."

"For all we know we're not the only gods out there," Elena added like she almost hoped there were other gods too. "I mean I've personally never met one, but I've heard stories of Greek gods running out Egyptians who tried to settle in their territory. Some even say that there is a God with a capital 'G'. Maybe he's the one who built the Du'at. Maybe he even created us."

"Don't be ridiculous," Raet scolded with the slightest tremble of fear. "In all these millennia I think we would have met one if there were other gods. We're all there is and one of us was bored one day and decided to create the Du'at."

Clearly unwilling to fight the goddess, Elena and Nile lifted their hands in surrender. "You guys get some sleep. We'll make sure no demons come and eat you," Nile assured as Eddie and I found the driest (and softest) part of the damp cave to sleep in.

"Who are you kidding," Elena scoffed. "Even I'm scared of those things. One comes our way you two can fend for yourselves." The god's words were harsh, but the slight upturn of her smile said she didn't mean anything. In a way she kind of reminded me of Patricia-she acts tough but is really a sweet heart deep down.

Despite being exhausted, sleep didn't come easy for me and, from the sound of his rapid breathing, Eddie couldn't sleep either. Turning over on his side to face me I felt his comforting hand slid into mine. I wanted to remind him that he didn't need to hold my hand when I slept anymore-the nightmares stopped with Anet's death. Before I could say anything, however, I realized that maybe he needed my presence now even if I didn't need his. I hadn't thought about it, but being the Osirian had made him braver. Now that he was human again, he probably lost some of that.

"You would hate it you know," I said softly almost as if I didn't want him to hear. (Which maybe I didn't, but he certainly could.) "If I hadn't been born your dad would have had no reason to keep you away from Anubis House. If you and Patricia knew each other since you were 12 chances are you never would have gotten married."

"Patricia is pregnant," Eddie blurted out after such a long silence I thought he'd either died or fallen asleep. "She wanted to tell you herself but with the gods dragging us here…"

There was a sense of terror in Eddie's voice, and I knew it had deeper roots than just the fear of fatherhood at 19. "How far along?" I questioned wondering what else I was supposed to say.

"A little over 4 months," Eddie admitted clearly ashamed that, if I did the math, I'd know the baby came along over a month before the wedding. Still, I wasn't judging. Patricia once told me she was going to wait until marriage, but after Eddie died for the second time at graduation, I could see something happening.

"You'll be a great dad," I assured him. "After all, you're a natural protector."

That was the wrong thing to say. "That's what I'm worried about, Nina. I mean he should be fine because, unless you, Joy, or KT are pregnant there is no Chosen One to be had but what about in the future? I don't want any of our kids to have to go through what we did but at least two of them will have to!"

"Don't worry about it," I reassured the fretting boy. "If, in the future, our kids are Chosen then we'll help them the way our parents never helped us. Your son will be healthy and normal with lovely parents to protect and nurture him."

"I just worry about the future," Eddie confessed. "Because as little as I want to continue being the Osirian I know that if it's not me it's one of our kids. We're the only two people left who are related to Asim. Either way we can't win."

"Eddie," I told him softly. "We always win, but for now we need to get some sleep so we can meet Osiris, and you can get back to your wife."

He looked ready to continue freaking out, but eventually he settled down enough to fall asleep. When I finally joined him my dreams were plagued with children marked as Senkarah had marked me. Despite what I told Eddie, I knew he was right. Our kids would be cursed just as Eddie and I were.

* * *

Question, how many of you have read my story "Children of the Obelisk"? If not many I am considering re-writing it with edits so it A-isn't so rushed and B-fits better in with this story because originally they were supposed to be in the same Universe...


	8. Chapter 8 Home of the Brave

FYI I'm American and couldn't resist Also, I've decided that The Children of the Obelisk is NOT in the same universe as this story… for reasons at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 8

Home of the Brave

"Nina, we need to get moving." I awoke to Eddie's hasty shake and found myself on the 'road' within minutes. "Raet found another path while we were asleep so we didn't have to do another trial."

"Thank gods," I muttered realizing only after I said it how accurate that really was. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I studied my godly frie…companions. Anubis was a godly friend, maybe even Nile or Elena, but Raet… Raet wanted something from us-that was for sure. Still, she was being helpful, so maybe she wouldn't be too terrible with her request for payment.

"Your welcome," Elena and Nile replied in unison with mischievous giggles. In a way, they reminded me of Alfie and Jerome… if my old friends were gods that is.

"Shut up you too," Raet scowled. "The throne room is up here. I spoke with Anubis while you were out and they just have one more weighing to do before they can take a break."

"Weighing?" What on earth (or I guess what on Du'at) was a weighing? "Oh," I realized. "Weighing of a dead heart against the feather of truth, got ya."

"Squeamish Nines?" Eddie teased with a laugh when he noticed my grimacing face. "Let's get us some hearts on!"

"Someone's in a good mood," I noted cheerfully. Personally, I just wanted to be out of the Du'at, but Eddie almost looked like he liked it here. (Mad that one.)

"Well soon I'll be the Osirian again and I might hate it, but hey who doesn't want to know exactly what their destiny is?" He was right, most people spent their entire lives just trying to figure out what they were supposed to do with their lives. What most people don't realize is that they aren't 'supposed' to do anything with their lives. Very few people have a destiny, but at least with one Eddie and I weren't ever confused about what we were to do.

"We're here," Raet told us with a 'keep back and wait for this to be over' look.

"By that she means shut up before you're the next one who has to face a weighing," Elena told us with a slightly mad grin. Peering into the room, I saw a magnificent set up. Osiris sat on a magnificent black throne (well it is a throne room. I'd hope there would be a throne to go with it.) You'd expect the entrance to the Afterlife to be dark and creepy, but actually, the room was filled by all the joys of life. The colorful pictures stained on the glass moved like something out of Harry Potter so, in them, I could see the magnificent, but tragic, life of the women who was being weighed.

She'd died young and couldn't have been older than 35, but whatever disease had killed her destroyed her body first. The women's hair was patchy, and her body bore scares from multiple surgeries. Death had probably come as a welcome relief, but she didn't seem to be enjoying it. "Anubis, would you stop ogling at your human crush and weigh the heart," Osiris asked annoyed. Surprised I lifted my head to see Anubis had been staring at me with his cocky grin. Now that our eyes had met and lingered a second too long, Anubis turned away from me heart and feather on each hand. Placing each object on either side of the scale, I noticed a sly movement that resulted with a stone being placed on the side of the feather. I went to cry out that Anubis was rigging the women's test to condemn her to be eaten by the missing Ammut, when Eddie clamped his hand over my mouth.

"You say anything and Anubis will kill you," he reminded me hastily.

Horrified by Eddie's lack of empathy I turned as spat at him, "Who are you," before running out.

"Do you do this often? Pretend someone's guilty by rigging the test?" I yelled at Anubis tossing the stone to Osiris' feet so he could see what his lieutenant was up to.

Lifting a single eyebrow, the death god turned to the quivering women who's scale, without the added weight, had balanced out. "Jeanette Luis, your soul is pure enough to pass into the Afterlife. Enjoy your peace." Once the women vanished Osiris turned to Anubis, "She's your Chosen One. Do with her as you see fit."

As terrified as I was, I held my head high proud that I'd saved that women's soul from being eaten. "Nina, Nina, Nina," Anubis told me pacing around in a circle. "What am I going to do with you? I helped bring back your Osirian, I trained you, and this is how you repay me? Jeanette angered me by rejecting my offer of healing. You don't insult a god and expect not to pay with your life."

"So that's what you're going to do? Kill me?" I stammered halfway between terror and a cool indifference. If I died Eddie wouldn't have to be the Osirian again and dying for that lady, whose name I could barely remember, was worth it."

"No," Anubis admitted with a soft tisk. "I don't want to kill you Nina. You're useful, and amusing… still. I'll give you an option. Take the feather of truth in your hand and know that you can't lie lest it will burn you alive. I want you to apologize and mean it while holding the feather, then I'll let you live. Otherwise…Ammut is hungry."

"There is no need for me to take the feather," I told him firm in my belief. "I'm not going to lie and I'm not sorry. You insist on an innocent soul being fed to Ammut, then fine. She came have mine." With a final apologetic look flashed to a speechless Eddie I shut my eyes and prepared to die.

* * *

So, while i know this is a mean cliffhanger good news (or not if you're getting sick of me). I came up with a brilliant idea to quench my own personal happiness so... this will be followed by a sequel... so book-ish 3! Don't worry though, there is plenty of this left to go. Or is there? I mean all i promised was that nina would die and she is about to die so...


	9. Chapter 9 House of Anubis

Chapter 9

House of Anubis

The pain never came.

At first I thought that maybe death really was peaceful, but, had Ammut devoured me I wouldn't have just died, I would have ceased to exist. I was thinking, so therefore I existed. Something had gone wrong and the only way I'd find out what was if I opened my eyes.

The light hurt at first, but once my eyes adjusted, I saw another, less gruesome, demon with the head of clown. (I said less gruesome, not less terrifying.) he had a look of approval on his face and I understood- none of it was real. I was still asleep and it had just been another test, the final test. "Standing up for yourself, standing up to those you love isn't true bravery." The demon noted. "Standing up for those you've never met and never will again and then defending your choice to the death-that's bravery."

"So none of that ever happened," I made sure. "It was just some sort of simulation?"

The demon nodded, "Yes. I created a simulation out of your thoughts, your desires. I gave you a world of happiness and then gave you a choice that would take it all away. You made the right choice, so you can return to your friends, but I can't guarantee the same happiness."

I wanted to ask more, because this demon seemed wise, but I soon found myself being awoken for real this time by Eddie. "Nines, come on you've got to wake up!"

Sitting up quickly I hugged him tightly. "I thought for a moment I was never going to see you again! I was so scared."

"It's okay," Eddie assured me with a troubled look. "What happened?"

"You mean you didn't…" Why would I have faced the trial but not Eddie? What made him different?

"Some people skip certain trials," Nile, who seemed like he'd been honestly worried, informed me. "Even without the Osirian spirit bravery is in his DNA, so he didn't need to be tested on it. For you it's still a choice, and since you weren't killed by Clown who Eats children, I assume you made the right choice."

"Wait, she just underwent a trial?" An enraged Eddie asked. "I was back here shaking her awake and the entire time you knew what was happening!"

"Don't worry," I told him trying to wipe the images from my mind. "It's over now. We should get a move on."

"She's right," Raet told us forcefully. "We lost enough time as it is. I want to deliver you to your destiny and then be done."

"Let's go then," I told her wiping the dust from my clothes. "Lead the way oh great Raet."

The goddess scowled at my sarcasm, but Eddie's chuckle made it all worth it. Maybe if I distracted him enough I wouldn't have to explain.

Of course, I couldn't distract him once we hit the road, "So what exactly happened?"

"Look, Eddie," I told him softly. "All I want to do is forget, and I'm holding out hope that I still can. But, if I talk about it, then I know it's not going to happen. You understand that, right?"

"Yeah, I understand," he told me reluctantly. "Just if you want to talk know I'm here. I'll always be here."

Something about the sad way Eddie said his final line reminded me of what the demon said. He created an Eddie happy about being the Osirian again because that's what I wanted to see. But that wasn't the reality of things. Eddie was dreading this, he was dreading our connection and I didn't blame him. If I could stop being the Chosen One without dying or passing on the curse to a kid I would any day.

I wanted to say something and remind Eddie about the good times that came from our Osirian/Chosen one bond, but the gods walking ahead stopped before we could. "Anubis paid a little visit while you were out and told us to wait outside before coming in… something about weighings always making humans get sick on his carpet," Eddie explained. He sounded like he thought the idea was amusing, but after my simulation, I was glad not to have to live through another weighing-even a fair one.

"You look a bit pale Nina, is something wrong?" Yelping in surprise I turned to find the ever mysterious Anubis standing only an inch behind me. "Afraid I'm going to let Ammut eat you?"

The god was kidding, but I smacked him anyways. "I told you not to do that!"

Anubis found my anger amusing, but Eddie was only confused. I didn't blame him; to the untrained eye the banter between the god and I almost seemed like flirting. And maybe it was flirting, for him, but for me there was only one person in the world and he was as far away from the Du'at as I could keep him. (Which isn't far considering the Du'at is everywhere but… you get my point. I only love Fabian.)

"Manners nephew," the blue-skinned Osiris popped into existence with a hand on Anubis's shoulder. "Welcome," he told us with a wide beam. "I'm Osiris," he told Eddie with an outstretched hand the boy didn't take. Many gods would be infuriated by his rudeness, but Osiris understood Eddie's reluctance. "We met before," Osiris mused, "But as you were dead I don't think you remember."

"Thanks for that," Eddie finally said, "I guess."

"Not many are given a second chance at life," Osiris pointedly reminded. "Never mind a third." Looking towards the other gods Osiris gave a curt nod, "Long time no see. I'd offer you a meal, but something tells me that, if I keep Raet-Tawny here for a moment longer than necessary she'll burn me alive so why don't we just get this over with? Eddie, come with me, the rest of you wait here."

Eddie glanced nervously between me and the others as if worried that with 4 gods around I could get hurt. (Or he was thinking the gods would hurt me. It's a very similar look.)

"She'll be fine," Anubis assured him with a nod. "I'm very good at keeping Nina company."

"Shut up," I told the one god I knew was a friend with a laugh. Confused by the easy relationship between me and the god, Eddie was muttering about me (of all people) being mad as he trailed behind Osiris like a kicked puppy. Guilt filled me when I realized I was laughing as Eddie's life was about to be destroyed, again, because of me.

"It's not your fault," Anubis answered reading my mind. (And not even the metaphorical reading of a mind where he's actually just reading my face. The god had some literal mind reading abilities going on. "Blame Asim and his love fantasies, or even Ma'at and her concept of balance. Eddie was never supposed to live without being the Osirian and this is just destiny's way of fixing herself."

"Is it going to hurt him?" I asked knowing it was a stupid question. Having an ancient soul inserted into your body by a god had to hurt. Anubis, knowing that I didn't want the answer, just changed the subject.

"You're not scared of me because of the trial, right? Because I'd never rig a weighing nor hurt you for calling me out on it."

"Why, because then you'd have to find a new Chosen One and there are none available?" I teased with the slightest hint of true curiosity in my voice. Everyone seemed to think Anubis liked, liked me, even my subconscious, but I wasn't sure the death god worked like that.

"I do care about you Nina," he admitted. "I honestly care. I could easily fall in love with you if the situation was different, but it isn't. You're human and you love Fabian. I can't get between that. But how can I not find you the most interesting person on this planet? I know every single Chosen One who has ever lived, but you're the one who did it. You broke the curse I placed on Amnertis, you assembled the cup that over a hundred others didn't. And then, once you fulfilled your destiny, you carried on protecting the earth from these ghosts that even I can't keep under control. You're very special Nina, even for a Chosen One, but to answer your question, I like you, I could love you, but I accept it will never work."

Smiling sadly I turned to Anubis, "If things were different, if you were human and I met you first then maybe I would have loved you too, but now, now I only love Fabian."

"He's good for you," Anubis nodded despondently. "Many Chosen Ones have fallen for their Osirians, naturally, but the few that found others first… they are the happy ones. They are always happy in the end. It's a long hard road, but you'll be happy in the end."

"I thought you gods weren't omniscient," I told him with a teasing smile. "How do you know I'll be happy."

"Because I know you Chosen One, and you'll find happiness even if you have to create it for yourself."


	10. Chapter 10 House of Boxes

Chapter 10

House of Boxes

"Nina," Anubis told me grabbing each shoulder. "You're about to feel a rush of … something. We've never put the spirit back into somebody so I have no idea what it will feel like for you."

"I'll be fine," I told him sure that after everything I'd been through I was prepared for what I'd feel.

I was wrong. I didn't feel pain, per say, but a sharp stabbing rose up my spine as the Chosen One within me re-connected with the previously-dead Osirian. Only Anubis's tight grip kept me from shaking or falling to the ground as a rush of emotions that weren't my own took control over my body. Numbed by the feeling, it was only when I began to feel the rise and fall of my chest begin again that I remembered I was still alive, "See, fine," I told Anubis with a dizzy nod. When the spots that danced in front of my eyes vanished, I caught sight of the small, silver, box from before.

"Nina, don't," Anubis cried as I went over to it. "Whatever you do don't touch it and don't look at it!"

"We saw it before," I recalled thinking back to the very beginning of the trip. "Not just at the beginning. It was everywhere!" Looking at the box I re-watched my journey and realized that the entire time the box was there. "Why is this box following me?"

"Nina, come back over here and I'll explain," Anubis cried like he was trying to talk a suicidal person from the edge. But why? It was just a box. How was I supposed to be hurt by a box?

"No you won't," a voice answered. Wait, I know that voice, that's my voice! I answered Anubis. But how? I didn't even remember opening my mouth.

"Nina!" Anubis cried from my side moving close but not touching me. "You're not thinking straight because of the box. SO GET AWAY FROM IT!"

"Nina, don't touch the box," Eddie, who'd apparently returned pleaded. "Come back over here right now!"

"You're no fun!" I cried like a child looking at the boys. "I promise I won't touch it. I just want to look!"

"Nina don't!" Eddie cried grabbing my arm, but it was too late. I'd turned my head down and seen the word engraved into the silver. Stumbling in surprise I fell, but Eddie caught me before I could touch the ground. Slinging he over his shoulder he moved as far away from the box as he could, but, while the trance broke, I didn't forget again.

"My name…" I stammered. "It said my name but it wasn't…" before I could finish I realized the immense pain that was tearing through my body. I felt like a piece of my soul was being broken off and ripped from my chest. I struggled to breath but while my lungs filled, no oxygen went into my system. Tears welled up in my eyes unable to fall it hurt so much.

Then, as quickly as the pain came, it vanished leaving me unconscious in Eddie's arms.

"You were where?" Fabian's yell jolted me awake. Looking around I found myself in the room Patricia and I shared Anubis at my side and Fabian and Eddie out in the hallway.

"I don't have time for this," Eddie growled. "She's awake."

"You're back at school," Anubis told me softly. "Eddie carried you through the Du'at."

"But that's a day's journey." My voice cracked as I used it, so when Anubis handed me a glass of water I was beyond thankful. "Have I really been out for that long?"

"Yeah," Eddie told me with a fake-calm nod. "I was worried you weren't going to wake up."

"But… what happened?" I remembered the box and then the pain that ravaged my body, but the how was still a mystery. "What was in the box?"

"It doesn't matter," Eddie and the gods answered in unison leaving only Fabian and me clueless.

"Look," Eddie told me kneeling besides my bed. "Do you trust me?" Did he even need to ask? "Then trust me when I say that the content of the box doesn't matter."

"There was a word on the box," I recalled thinking of the beautiful writing that sung in my soul. "It was my name but it didn't say Nina… but I know it was my name at the same time!"

"It's your Ren," Anubis explained. "The soul has five parts. There is the Ib, which is your heart and the part I weigh against the feather of truth. The Sheut, which is your shadow but… more than just blocked sunlight. It doesn't matter much anyways." Something about his tone implied that it matter a lot, but that he just didn't want to explain. "There's the ba, that's your personality, and the Ka the piece that leaves when you die. The last piece is the Ren, or your name."

"Everyone has this thing called your 'secret name'," Eddie continued gently like a mother trying to soothe a crying child. "That name is your being in a single word. Every thought, dream, wish, emotion are part of your secret name."

"I read a book once," I recalled with a squint. "About iron faeries or something… but it said that if someone invoked your secret name then you had to do what they said as they said it. They had complete control over you… is that true?"

Anubis nodded, "Unfortunately, yes. Isis once poisoned Ra and told him that the only way she could heal him was for Ra to tell her his secret name. Ra did, so Isis healed him, but then she invoked the name and forced Ra to give up the throne to her son Horus."

"And that's the story of how we ended up college students," Elena muttered sourly. "Blasted goddess."

"All that matters is you don't tell anyone your secret name," Anubis insisted feverently. (Like I would be dumb enough to.) "If you do then they control you and then there is a very unfortunate series of events I don't wish to go into…" Ah. So we were back to avoidance now.

"But you saw it already ,Eddie." He'd looked at the box so surely he knew what it said. "And couldn't anyone just look at the box and know it?"

To my relief Eddie shook his head. "Doesn't work like that. Everyone has one person who knows their name instinctively- that one person who knows them better than anyone else and cares about them so much they'd never tell even under duress. So, unless a person is foolish enough to tell someone their secret name, they'll always be fine. We both have three people who know or name or would know our name if they ever thought about it. I know your name because I'm your Osirian. I use your name when I heal you."

"I know your name because you're sort of my Chosen One and when I created the curse I put that as part of the deal," Anubis added with a guilty shrug. "What? I needed to make sure that if I ever really needed the cup, which was unlikely but possible, I could just force one of you to assemble it. Call it my fail safe."

"And the third person is the one I love most?" I confirmed of the god afraid to look at Fabian in case he didn't know and realized that that meant we wouldn't be together.

"No," Anubis answered. "It's the person who loves you best. You don't even have to love them, not technically, but you do," Anubis turned to flash a grin at Fabian, "Stop worrying boy! Of course it's you!"

A weight of relief lifted from my chest as Anubis, the god Anubis, told me that Fabian loved me the most of any other person ever. It was a good feeling and, when I thought about it, I knew exactly what Fabian's name was too.

Ha? What do you take me for, a fool? No way in the Du'at am I telling you! You'd use it to make him all yours!

"But why did it hurt so bad? When I read my name, that is?"

Anubis and Eddie exchanged a very Disney Frozen conversation of 'I'm going to tell her' and 'don't you dare', before my godly patron just slapped me on the back, "Sorry hon, but it doesn't matter enough for me to tell you. Now everyone get out of her room so she can get some sleep!"

"God no," I said before realizing how appropriately inappropriate that actually was. "I mean I've slept long enough."

"Suit yourself," Anubis told me with a shrug. "See you around, hon, Raet, if you're done I think there are some confused roommates to whom our friend owe some explanations."

"Yes, I think I'm done," Raet told us with a slightly malicious grin. (Or maybe that's just her normal face.)

"Come on," Eddie told me with a roll of his eyes. "I have a wife downstairs having a tantrum and I think you-know-who is making her even more cranky."

Fabian, who didn't know about the baby, only tilted his head in confusion, "Yes love, didn't you hear?" I teased. "Turns our Voldemort is real too."

Fabian's beautiful laugh made me feel at peace as I walked down the stairs to face the music. I didn't think about secret names, or boxes, or even the whispered "remember" Raet told Eddie as she left.

Well even if I hadn't been happy I couldn't have thought about the last thing because I didn't hear it, but now that I'm deceased I know things, like the fact that the only thing Eddie could think of was the promise he'd made Raet.

The promise that had seemed so simple at the time, but would eventually doom us all.

* * *

Hey, question, has anyone figured out the meaning of the name yet? I bet you have.

Also, I decided I can't write Neddie if the fans choose that, so I told my friend ChosenOne0711 to write it for me. She's awesome so go check it out! It's called "Who Do You Love,I Hope."


	11. Chapter 11 House of Explanations

Chapter 11

House of Explanations

"Nina?" Elizabeth questioned when she saw me. "You okay? Eddie said you'd passed out. Does that happen a lot?"

"Surprisingly often," I told her with a 'what can you do' eye roll. "But I'm fine now, just a bit tired."

"Being in the Du'at does that to a person," Elena stated plainly. Seven sets of eyes swiveled and stared incredulously.

"How the Hell do you know about that?" Elizabeth growled. "You think it's funny?"

"Chill Elizabeth," Nile told her flashing a disapproving glance towards his godly counterpart. "She's not making fun of you. She's serious."

"Eddie, what the hell is going on?" a frustrated Patricia cried from the couch where she sat. Feeling bad that I hadn't much attention to my friend who I hadn't seen in months, I gave her a quick once-over to make sure she was okay. Though I hadn't noticed it before, I could see now the slightest baby bump that was beginning to appear on my friend. I was thrilled for her, honest, but I also worried about what the future would hold for this kid who, genetically, passed on the needed gene to make an Osirian. Even if this kid was safe, his or her grandkids wouldn't be.

Eddie went to respond to his wife's question, but Elena, being Elena, pushed him on to the coach and waited for us all to sit. Once we were settled in (most everyone with questioning faces) the god began dramatically, "Our lovely friend Elizabeth here was expelled after a parent found out she worshiped the Egyptian gods…"

"I don't worship them!" the girl told us popping up. "I mean you don't worship them."

"Yes, honey," Elena said sweetly as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You do. Honestly! You'd think because we don't bring storms down on those who don't worship us that that means we don't want it anymore! I'd love a few cattle sacrifices."

Nile raised his hand to his head before shaking it causing Eddie to sigh and lean back in his chair ready to enjoy the show. Patricia looked between Eddie and me like 'did you do this', while Fabian, who knew what was going on but had expected something a bit more subtle, gawked.

It was definitely the reaction of the housemates I didn't know, however, that really stuck out. Elizabeth looked ready to pass out as she realized that Elena wasn't kidding. The gods she'd believed in if not worshiped were real, and she was now rooming with two of them. If Nile and Elena's identities were hard for me, the Chosen One, to swallow, it must be impossible for someone perfectly normal like Elizabeth. Justin on the other hand didn't react at all to the words being said. I didn't know what it meant, but in the Du'at the gods had repeatedly called Justin a 'scale.' I'd assumed that, whatever it was, he didn't know, but the chill look on his face said he did.

Elizabeth must have noticed our reactions, because she stood up and started pacing, "Wait? Am I the only one in this ridiculous house who didn't have proof that the gods existed? I mean… this is absurd! Sure, I used to believe, but that was just… just a phase! They can't possibly exist, but they do, don't they. I mean how did I not know!" The girl was rambling, but we were all too sympathetic to stop her. Finally, Nile broke the ice with an explanation.

"Well I knew because I am a god… Khumun at your service. The annoying one, " he pointed to Elena. "Is Khepri, but the last person to call her that was turned into a beetle so I wouldn't suggest bringing it up."

"Shut up," the god yelled at her (well, actually, I'm not sure what to call him. I mean they're friends, but enemies, but technically the same person so…. Let's just not bring this up again, okay?)

"I mean I know about it because I had my soul stolen by a goddess last year… and there have been other instances besides that," Patricia told the startled girl sympathetically. Somehow it had been decided that we'd go around explaining how we got drawn into this mess, because Fabian went next.

"Same thing happened to me as Patricia," he admitted with a shrug. "Ammut is not a friendly person." Fabian didn't need to say that twice. Sure, it had been a dream, but the goddess' depiction in my final trial came from what Sibuna had told me in stories. Basically-she was a horrible person.

"I mean I know about it because I'm the Osirian… kind of a long story."

"Like the descendant of Asim who's destined to protect the Chosen One, Osirian?" Elizabeth sure did know her facts, didn't she?

This seemed like a good place to step in, so I raised my hand. "You say something about the Chosen One?"

Apparently, Justin hadn't known about Eddie and me, because even he had a look of surprise growing on his face. "I didn't realize…"he muttered before realizing he'd spoken aloud. "Um, sorry. I just meant that I'd heard you were dead."

"Um well I died twice, but someone keeps bring me back," Eddie said with a roll of the eyes. "To be honest, I think Osiris just doesn't want to keep me around; I tend to get on people's nerves after a while."

Justin opened his mouth, almost as if Eddie's deaths weren't what he meant, but he soon shook his head and smiled, "Guess I was wrong."

"So what exactly are you then?" Patricia asked the guy pointedly. "I mean we've all said how we got involved, so what about you?"

"Um… well…" Justin began nervously. "I'm this thing called a scale, I guess. I mean that's what Ma'at called me the one time we met. We're people who have a natural sense of order, justice, and balance. It's kind of complicated."

"Scales are the ones who Ma'at decided could keep us forgotten gods from causing too much trouble," Nile teased making Justin flush red. "There aren't many, but I guess it's appropriate for there to be one here. I mean two gods, the Chosen One, a newly reinstated Osirian, the ones who the aforementioned Chosen One and Osirian love most, oh and don't forget the unborn baby who fulfills all the requirements of being an Osirian except for the demand of one."

"Patricia," Fabian asked spinning around to face our flustered friend. "Did he just imply that you're pregnant?"

"It's a girl," Elena pointed out before Patricia or Eddie's minds could formulate an answer. "And as long as Nina doesn't die within the next 5 months she'll be perfectly normal."

"A girl," Patricia repeated with a small smile. "I was going to tell you guys but… well I haven't exactly gotten a chance. Yes I'm having a baby… and apparently it's a girl."

"Congratulations," we all told the couple in a flurry of hugs that even the gods got included in. Now that all the awkwardness and secrets were out, we went our own separate ways to process all the new information.

Despite having said I wasn't tired, apparently whatever seeing my Ren did to me had lasting side effects. Feeling slightly nauseous, I moved to go upstairs and to bed, but not before I over-heard a secret conversation between Eddie and Fabian with the topic of, you guessed it, me.

"Whatever it is that you're not telling Nina about the name thing and the box, she deserves to know," I heard Fabian growl through the door. Upon hearing the words aloud, I knew that my gut feeling was right; Eddie was keeping secrets.

"Look, Fabian," my exhausted Osirian told him with a failing attempt at cockiness. "It's better if she doesn't know. It's better if you don't know! It's my job to protect Nina not only because I'm her Osirian again, but because she's my friend. I swear on everything I hold dear, which, at the moment, is quite a lot, that I will never withhold information that could keep Nina safe."

"But you can't tell me anything? Please Eddie, I want to help. I love her."

"I know you do Fabian, I know you do but… let's put it this way. Nina knowing won't help the situation. But Nina not knowing… it will greatly reduce the number of mental breakdowns that occur within the confines of this house."

Sneaking away so they didn't see me I went to bed but found sleep unattainable. I had known Eddie was keeping secrets but whatever it was that he wouldn't tell me… it was serious. Something was seriously wrong, so wrong that Eddie, who knows me better than anyone, felt that I'd break if I knew the truth. And if Eddie believed I would break that was because I would.

So maybe it really was better if I didn't know everything this time around.

* * *

Sorry I know it's a bad chapter, but I'm just struggling to get words on the page at this moment because I have a headache. So hopefully it made sense... Don't forget to review with theories... think of the title and it will help you get started.


	12. Chapter 12 House of Normal

Chapter 12

3 months later

House of 'Normal'

Nina

It's odd, but living in Anubis 2.0 was actually a calmer life than my high school career. Okay, so there were a few incidents with the gods throwing things (or each other) out windows, but as soon as Justin walked in they settled right down. Maybe it's because he's a scale, but the dude just radiated peace and calm. Even my nerves, which had been on edge since I overheard the conversation, were calmed when the kid stepped into the room. And, honestly, I don't even think he knows he's doing it! Maybe Justin was chosen as a scale because of his calming influence, or maybe his calming influence comes from being a scale. Either way no one in my house died within the first three months, so that was a plus.

While living them I thought those three months were about as perfect as they could get, but of course as a dead girl looking back I know of all the secret meetings between Raet and Eddie. Still, I'm getting ahead of myself.

By this point Patricia was 7 months pregnant and it was showing-physically and emotionally. The always cranky girl snapped faster now more than ever, and (as Nile pointed out before getting slapped) Patricia's stomach looked like she'd eaten a planet.

"Are you sure there's only one little girl in there?" Eddie teased gently one night.

"I'm sure," Elena replied walking into the kitchen. "Honestly. Don't you trust be by now Eddie?"

"No," he admitted flatly. "I don't trust anyone who's lived thousands of years-it takes a whole lot less time to get corrupted." I was surprised by the harshness of my Osirian's tone as he spoke to the girl that he often fought with, but never in a real serious manner.

I waited to see if Elena would get angry, but instead she just smiled. "You're smarter than you look Eddie Miller. I don't trust me either. Still, I would never lie when it comes to babies… in a way they're kind of all under my domain."

"I thought Hathor was the baby goddess," Fabian, who'd been in the kitchen grilling some chicken sandwiches asked.

"You're going to regret this," Nile told him with a slight chuckle. Obviously Elena had ranted about this many, many times before.

"Hathor is the patron of mothers, but I'm the representation of birth. There's a big difference. And…"

"You know what, I think we've got it," Eddie interrupted as he hopped over the couch and sat down next to Patricia. "Basically you're the baby girl."

Elena scowled, but we all found it amusing. Like it or not Elena, the cranky god who'd somehow become a friend, would forever be known as the baby girl.

"What have you been up to Eddie?" Elizabeth asked the boy not even looking up from her textbook. "I feel like we never see you anymore with all this time you've been spending at the library."

"Who would have thought that you'd do work at college," Eddie sarcastically replied as if studying was a new invention. Still, Elizabeth was right. Eddie didn't study, so why was he out of the house so much?

"Whatever you say," Elizabeth teased. "But I think the only one at the library more than you is Fabian… Nina do you ever wonder if he's just there because the librarian is hot?"

Fabian's response was to spit out his tea, but Eddie made it all the better. "Now I know you've never been to the library because the librarian is a man."

"You're point?" Elizabeth asked with a tilted head.

Once our laughter died down, Justin spoke calmly, "So are we going to talk about the two letters with return addresses from London schools that arrived in the last couple weeks, or were you just planning on leaving?"

"YOU'RE WHAT!" two gods and a furious teenage girl chorused.

"You can't leave," Elizabeth pleaded desperately. "Why would you even want to?"

"Patricia and I are only here on exchange anyways," Eddie reminded trying to keep his tone cool and calm. "Which is good because Patricia's sister Piper goes to uni there and her parents live only a bit away."

"And let me guess, Eddie won't let you stay," Elena pouted. (Yes, you just heard me right. We had a pouting god in the house.)

"He's not making me leave," I told them all firmly. If I did everything Eddie told me to then I wouldn't do anything at all. "I'm just tired of being scared. I mean we're girls, in college, in a part of the world where many girls are kept illiterate. And with all the turmoil… I wanted to leave."

"And if Nina's going I'm going," Fabian stated firmly (not that anyone didn't know that already. Fabian and I were a serious couple, even if we did nothing more than kiss. Nothing could get between us and we knew it.)

"Well this just sucks," Elizabeth decided firmly. "And to think I was planning all of these fun things we could do and now you're leaving me alone with them."

We all knew Elizabeth was just teasing, but the gods responded indignant as ever. It was weird how Elena and Nile acted so human, but they were gods whereas Justin was more or less human, but acted so aloof.

"I think you should do what makes you happy," the scale told us after a bit of awkward silence. "And I know you're not going to be happy with your godchild in a whole different country."

Justin's words made me smile a little as I remembered the conversation from last week in which my two best friends finally managed to ask me to be their daughter, Alice's, godmother. I'd immediately said yes, but I felt nervous to know that if anything was to happen to Eddie and Patricia I'd be responsible for this kid. Still, they were my best friends; I wasn't going to say no.

"So you're only here for another week," Elizabeth sighed morosely. "Once finals and the semester end you're back off to the land of tea and Tardis."

"Well we don't want you here causing trouble anyways so have fun," a sour Elena told us before storming off. Nile followed after her hoping he can calm her down, so, of course, Justin had to go too to keep them from doing too much godly damage.

"I'll miss them," Patricia told us honestly. "But I won't miss the sound of body smashing gods…"

No. I wouldn't miss that much either.


	13. Chapter 13 House of Leverage

Chapter 13

House of Leverage

Nina's POV

I should have known better than to think we could leave the homeland of the gods peacefully. In the week between when they found out and we were supposed to leave, all of our friends disgruntledly agreed that it really was best for us to go. They didn't like it, but they knew it was for the best.

When I fell asleep the night before our plane was scheduled I had honestly thought things would be okay. But, like I said, things never go smoothly for me.

I didn't wake up in my bed. My eyes fluttered open to find myself and a still asleep Patricia in some sort of underground ruins. "What the heck?" I muttered as I went to wake up my friend. Shaking her awake, I scrutinized my surroundings more. Books lined the colorful walls and, if I was remembering my hieroglyphics properly, we were inhabiting a non-existent place. **Library of the gods:Library of Alexandria** I translated. Just great.

"Nina?" Patricia began once she realized our predicament. "Where are we?"

"I think we're beneath the city in a chamber of the Library of Alexandria that was never burnt down. 'The library of the gods'," I told her hoping that she'd stick with the questions I knew the answer to.

Of course, she didn't, but Patricia instead asked the question we had both been wondering, "Okay then, why are we here?"

* * *

Eddie's POV

"Nina, Patricia, you girls need to get up or we'll miss the plane." It was so unlike them to sleep in I'd been both concerned and surprised when I found Fabian alone in the kitchen. Still, I hadn't known there was anything wrong until they didn't answer the door and I walked in finding the door empty except for one nasty surprise.

"What are you doing here Raet?" I growled at the goddess. "Where are Patricia and Nina?"

"Relax," the goddess told me with a wave of a hand. "They're alive and shall remain that way unless you decide to have a repeat of last night's predicament." Raet got the reaction she wanted as guilt over my decisions weighed upon me.

I'd come home from the library as normal discouraged by the fact that I still hadn't found something to save Nina. With us leaving the next day I'd stayed late in my last fruitless search, so, when I got back to the house, everyone was already asleep. As I assembled a sandwich in the kitchen, Raet had appeared.

I hadn't seen her since we got back from the Du'at, but my hasty words continued to replay in the back of my mind. I'd been so worried about Nina who was dying in my arms that I would have said anything to get Raet to send us back to our side of the Du'at, but in hindsight what I'd promised… it probably is what got Nina killed.

We'd been stuck and I'd had no choice but to give Raet what she wanted-my vow of undying allegiance to her. I knew what she'd want would be bad, but I'd never expect her to ask what she did.

"It's time for you to fulfill your vow to me. What is Nina's ren?"

Spinning, I laughed in the goddesses face (which, let me tell you, did not make the situation better), "You think I'd tell you that then you're insane. I promised to help you, but I'm not going to give you complete control over Nina!"

"Fine," the growled. "Then what's your secret name?"

"Do you think I'm a fool?" I'd cried back loudly. "If I tell you mine you'll just invoke it and make me tell you Nina's! No way in hell am I telling you any secret names so get out."

"You'll regret deifying me Edison Sweet," Raet had warned and now, in the face of the two people I cared about the most missing, I knew she was right.

"What did you do with Nina and Patricia?" I growled as I grabbed the goddess by the throat and pinned her against the wall. To my surprise as soon as my hand reached the wall she suddenly was no longer within my clasp. Instead, she stood on the other side of the room a murderous glint in her eyes.

"You really shouldn't have done that. All I have to do is snap my fingers and Nina's leg breaks…oops." Before I could stop her with my lunging body, Raet snapped and though I couldn't feel the pain of Nina's broken leg like I used to, I knew none-the-less that the goddess wasn't bluffing.

"I can't tell you her secret name or mine!" I repeated with all the cockiness of yesterday gone from my voice. "Even if I wanted to I couldn't! It would lead to Nina getting hurt and my entire being forbids me from hurting Nina!"

"I don't want the name," Raet announced to my great surprise. "I want you to figure out how to open that little box of Nina's. Its contents could very well be the turning point of the war."

"What war?" I asked of the goddess trying not to think of the box and its contents.

"The one I'm about to start." If Raet's face usually held a look of cold calculation, it now exemplified pure ambitious evil. Raet-Tawny was about to start a war for leadership over the disbanded gods, and she wanted to use Nina's box as a weapon.

"But what's inside isn't a weapon," I reminded her as if she could forget. No one who looked upon that box and knew of what it held could ever forget it.

"If by not a weapon you mean it can't hurt anybody then yes, you're right. But that doesn't make it useless. If I have the box I can use it to… persuade Anubis to side with me. If Anubis sides with me then Osiris sides with me. With the two of them backing me I'll have all the death gods too add to my army of forgotten deities. We'll reclaim the throne from Horus in the name of Raet. I'll even let you, your Chosen One, and your friends live so long as you cooperate."

"I've spent the past 3 months trying to figure out how to open that box and will continue researching until I know how. Once I do, I'll share the secret with you gladly. Now please, bring Patricia and Nina back."

Raet brought a finger to her mouth as if for a second she actually considered it, but eventually she shook her head. "How about no? I keep your wife, child, and Chosen One until you figure out how to open the box. This way you'll be motivated to keep working and smart enough not to consider ignoring my request." As the goddess went to leave, my audience over, she cast a final few despair catalyzing words, "By the way, your wife will be going into labor within the next few hours. When little Alice is born she'll need medical attention to survive; therefore, I suggest you work quickly. Goodbye Eddie."

She wasn't even gone before I'd made a break back towards the library in a desperate hope that I could find something, anything, to save my child.

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Ha ha suffering! Enjoy!

On the bright side you'll probably find out in the next chapter or so what's in the box... but that too will cause suffering so I guess it's not really a bright side...


	14. Chapter 14 House of Isis

I am so, so, so sorry, but it looks like this will be the new norm. I'll try to update on the weekends as much as humanly possible… but I have play every day until 5:30 and then high school comes with homework. If you guys want I could write multiple chapters on the weekend and try to spread them out over the week. It's up to you so just review with any thoughts.

Also, as if the aforementioned news isn't bad enough, my choir trip is next week. I mean that's good for me 'cause I get to see Les Miserable, Pippin' and After Midnight while performing at St. Patrick's Cathedral and random Catholic schools around the city, but it's bad for you because I won't probably get a chance to update until the 21. Unless you guys live in New York City and want to stand in Times Square with a poster featuring my pen name all week… sorry. I really am sorry.

And now that I'm done with the heart wrenching real life news how about some painful (literally) fictional news?

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Chapter 14

House of Isis

Eddie

"Eddie what is wrong?" Fabian cried hurtling after me. In my panic to find the solution to the box so Raet would stop hurting those I love, I hadn't said a word to my best friend. Even now, looking in his desperate face, I didn't know how to tell him.

"Raet took Nina and Patricia," I told him a desperate panic soft in my voice. I needed to keep a clear head, but if Raet was to be trusted, Alice, little baby Alice, was about to be born somewhere terrible premature and in need of help. I had only a few hours to find what I'd spent months fruitlessly searching for. How was I ever going to save them?

Before Fabian could get words out of his terrified and shocked face, a new voice spoke voice like a mother singing her baby a lullaby. "I cannot help you free them, or open the box, but I can give you more time."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked spinning to face the women. She was younger than her voice led me to believe- probably only in her early 20's, but one look in her eyes and I knew the gentle blonde was a lot older than that. "And which goddess are you then?"

"Getting better at that I see," the women told me with a smile. "Good thing too because I'm sure you'll be visited many times with offers and proposals that all turn out to be tricks. I am Isis, and have the one proposition you should not refuse." I don't know my Egyptians as well as I should of (being the Osirian and all) but I didn't need to be Fabian to understand who this woman was. Isis was a biggy.

Re-directing my mind to the only thing that mattered I spoke a bit too harshly, but Isis, ever the understanding mother, overlooked my tone. "You said you can help. How?"

"I am the patron of marriage, families; I can protect your wife and child… Khepri, Elena as you know her, will help me keep Alice alive. I can't free them, but my powers allow me to make so no harm can come to them." In my life I've watched disasters end well, but never before had I been so relived. If Isis could keep Alice alive then I had time. I could find the answers Raet needed and free everyone I loved from the mad goddess' grasps.

"But you can't help Nina, can you, because she has no family. Because we're not married," Fabian's muttered words stopped my heart in my chest. I saw Nina as such a sibling I thought the protection of family counted, but Fabian was right. Nina and I were like second cousins once removed or something. We weren't really family, so Isis's protection was void.

The goddess' sad nod confirmed my deepest fear. "Unfortunately the Chosen One is not under my domain and Raet has warded the place where they are so Anubis, who's domain she is under, can't get in. There is not a single being alive, save Raet of course, who can keep Nina alive with magic. But there are plenty who can do it with wisdom." My head was down, but I knew the goddess' eyes were carving into me as I stood there silent. I could save Nina, and I would, but I just didn't know how yet. "Raet kills Nina she loses. I can keep your family safe Eddie, and Raet will keep Nina alive. You must now use any resource you can to save them for we gods have done all we can."

"Can you at least tell us where they are?' Fabian pleaded voice cracking. I understood his despairing tone- Raet would keep Nina alive, but not well. Once again my short fallings caused pain to others. Patricia suffered because of me, Nina suffered because of me, and now my daughter would suffer because of me. KT used to call me a superhero, but no hero in all of history has caused as much pain as me.

Isis nodded, but even before she spoke I knew how useless the question was. "They're in the Library of the gods, it used to be part of the Library of Alexandria. It's miles underneath rock, pavement, and skyscrapers. It would be impossible for you to free them without Raet's help."

Fabian didn't seem to recognize the catacombs name (and I know I didn't), but we both recognized our lack of options. "Your wife has just begun labor," Isis informed me breaking me from thoughts of despair. "I must go and help her and you must begin your search."

"Wait!" I cried before the goddess could vanish into the Du'at. "Why are you helping me? What do you want in response?" Because they do, they always want something from us no matter what.

Isis's smile began sad, but a fierce determination grew as she listened to her own words. "You are my husband's servant here on earth… and I love a tragic love story. It seems that whether or not he marries his Chosen One the Osirian finds undying love in someone who deserves better. Except you're that exception. You do deserve Patricia because you are more than the Osirian. You're Eddie Miller." I wish Isis could have just left with her encouraging words still ringing in my ears, but as always my luck didn't hold out. "And I need a simple promise from you. Do not let Raet get her hand on the Sheut." Even now the word send shivers down my spine. The Sheut, Raet's 'weapon' the secret of the box. "She wants it to have power over my son and I refuse to allow that to happen. Find how to return the Sheut to its rightful home and do so. Just don't let Raet get her hands on it if you want there to be a world for your child to grow up in."

The last promise I made ended disastrously, but Isis and Raet are very different goddesses, and this vow was one I happily made. Raet would not win. I'd save Nina, I'd save Patricia, I'd meet my child.

It would all work out in the end.

It had to work out in the end.

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Well i just gave you a major spoiler... see if you can figure it out. I'm so tired i might go to sleep now and update my other story in the morning. Don't forget to mention in a review if you want me to save whatever i write over the weekend for during the week so updates are more even. Night guys don't let the scarab beetle bite.


	15. Chapter 15 House of Labor

Chapter 15

House of Favors

Nina

As shooting pain rose within my leg as somehow, the bone shattered. Unable to keep the cry of pain in Patricia, who'd been scowering the walls looking for a way out, ran over to me (or more waddled. She was very pregnant mind you.) "Nina? What's wrong."

"My leg," I grimaced afraid that if I opened my mouth too wide another cry of agonizing pain would be released. "I think it's broken!"

"But how?" Patria asked sitting beside me. "Actually that doesn't matter. What can I do?"

As the original pain began to die down, I knew the next step would be worse. "See if you can find anything long and hard. I need two of them so we can set my leg."

"I still don't understand how this happened," Patricia growled as she gently went to look for something to help me. "And I don't just mean your leg. How did we get down here? Where is here?"

Cringing in pain I made my best guess (which probably wasn't very comforting), "I think we're underneath the city… and something tells me there is a spiteful god involved."

"You know I always did like you. Smartest Chosen One there is." Surprised, I turned to see Raet standing there. Really? I mean I'd known Raet wasn't one of the good guys but why had she done this? What was there to gain?

"Raet, did you do this? Why? What did I ever do to you?" my voice would have been stronger if I wasn't 100% aware of the fact that I couldn't take on a goddess without a broken leg, never mind with one.

You know evil people, those I can deal with, but uncaring people, self serving people, they're the most dangerous. That's the kind of person Rate was and that made her trouble."You honey? Nothing. You and Mrs. Miller here are what I call collateral. Oh and the little one two of course." At the nonchalant mention of her daughter, I saw Patricia wrap a protective arm around her protruding stomach.

"You leave them alone," I growled even though I knew it would do no good. I'm not intimidating on a good day and lying prostrate on the ground unable to move was definitely a sign of my inability to do anything.

"Relax. So long as your Osirian does what I ask no harm will come to you," I saw her eyes flicker down to my leg, "Well no lasting harm anyway. Sorry about that hon, I had to prove a point."

"What do you want from Eddie?" The old Patricia would have probably added a snide comment, but she was too worried about the life of her daughter to do anything rash.

"Oh you know there's this box and inside the box is some new leverage that makes you two useless… nothing to worry about dears. I just thought I'd come and mention that if you two try to do anything stupid, like attempting an escape for instance, you will die. I don't really need you alive. All I need is for Eddie to think you're alive. Capish?" (Oh how I wish Alfie was here. He would have had a fit over a goddess saying capish.)

"Don't do anything stupid, got it," Patricia told her a bit of the old snark back in her voice.

Rate flashed me a 'well then' smile before turning to Patricia, "Oh and congratulations. It looks like you're a mother."

"Agh!" I heard Patricia cry and she slumped against the wall. I turned to Raet ready to attack, but the goddess was gone. Crawling over to Patricia I ignored the splitting pain in my leg. Whatever Raet had done to her… "Oh my God I think I'm having a baby," Patricia finally huffed. Relief coursed through me as all the worse scenarios left my mind. Still, this was a disaster. Alice wasn't due for another two months! If Patricia was in labor now and we didn't get out in time… no. I couldn't even think of the consequences.

"Don't worry. I won't let the child die," the voice was new, but I had the uncanny notion that I'd met her before. "I'm Isis and I vow on my life I will not hurt you." The goddess had stepped toward Patricia who'd shied away in fear.

"It's okay," I told my friend with a reassuring hand. "She won't hurt us." I don't know why I intrinsically knew that, but I did. Isis was one of the good guys. She'd never, ever, do something to hurt us.

Patricia was still weary, but she allowed the goddess to touch her baby bump. In the dark lighting, I noticed the goddess' lips curl up in a smile. "I just saw your husband and he is fine so don't worry. I promised him I'd protect you and the child. Alice, right?" Patricia nodded, clearly surprised the goddess knew her daughter's name, but at the same time, she just took it in stride. "I've placed a curse on you, not a bad one, a good one. It will guarantee that neither you nor Alice can die by godly hands. You'll both be safe from the Osirian's world. It's the best I can do." I knew what the goddess meant by that, even if Patricia was too preoccupied to. Isis could do nothing to keep me safe.

"Thank you," I heard Patricia answer sincerely. "Thank you so much."

The goddess nodded, "It's the least I can do. I convinced my husband to begin the Osirian line, and I'm responsible for all the families driven apart by it."

A chill crept down my spine at the goddess' words… something about the way she looked at me was unnerving. I knew I was really in trouble when her eyes flashed over to the edge of the room and she began moving away. Promising Patricia I'd only be a second, I followed reluctantly. "I know you, but I don't remember you," I told her honestly once Patricia was out of range. Some instinct promised that this wasn't the type of conversation that should be overheard.

"We've met on a few occasions, but you were probably too young to really remember. Your mother, the previous Chosen One as I'm sure you know, helped me recover a stolen diadem. It was on that case that she met your father; he had been tricked into keeping the crown in his house. I repaid her then by erasing the memories of our world from your father's mind-it kept him sane. Still I developed a great fondness for Suzan, so, when she went into labor, I helped her. Because of the very specific timing that comes with the Chosen One, you were born premature. It was my intervention that kept you alive as it will keep Alice." The women smiled fondly at the memory of my birth, "You were the most beautiful child and from time to time I'd come and check up on you under the pretense that I was your aunt." Sadness had begun to creep into the goddess' voice as she concluded her tale. "Your Gran and mother had a row a few years before you were born, about none other than Eric Sweet mind you, so she didn't know until you were three that you even existed. I happened to be visiting when she showed up at the door begging to meet you… when she asked who I was your father knew that me being her sister was a lie… Your mother suggested they go out to dinner, she planned on explaining everything, but on the way there they began fighting and…" I didn't need the goddess to finish. The memory, though distant, was returning to me. My gran had been the one to tell me my parents were dead, but there had been someone else there… and that person was Isis. "My presence at your house that night is the reason you don't have any blood, so I will do anything in my power to help the family you've created from being destroyed."


	16. Chapter 16 House of Demands

Hey… peek-a-boo! I'm BACK! Shhh don't cry so loud I have a head ache! I'm back and since I made you wait so long for an update… how about I finally give you some answers? What is in the box? Why does Raet want it? Why must Nina not know about it? You can't know everything mind you… but you might just learn a thing or two if you keep reading!

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Chapter 16

House of Demands

Eddie

"You know, Eddie, I'd be much more helpful if you'd really explain what we're looking for." Crap. I'd been so busy ripping through books and worrying about the girls that I hadn't realized that Fabian didn't know. I hadn't told him because... Because saying it aloud would make it real and this was the last thing I wanted to be real.

"You're going to need to sit down," I told my friend with a resigned sigh. He didn't of course; neither of us would consider taking a break until we found answers. Still, I slowed my pace of reading as I tried to find the words to explain what was going on (without angering Fabian so much that he killed me). "You remember last year when I died?" If I had to tell the story then it really was best for me to start at the beginning.

"Which time?" Fabian asked with a false chuckle. I too laughed because it is a bit ridiculous to think of having died twice and still being alive…if only my resurrection hadn't caused so many problems for those I cared about.

"The first one. When Anet stabbed me and then," I felt a choke in my throat as I grew closer and closer to the truth. I knew I had to tell Fabian but… he'd hate me for it. I hated me for it! It was all because of me that this was happening. If I'd just stayed dead then Patricia would be safe back in England and Nina and Fabian would just have had a normal term as archeologists… it was all my fault that this world was now going to Du'at. Still, I knew Fabian deserved the truth so I hoped my sincere apology shone through my words. "Then Nina brought me back."

"And why do you look so upset about that?" Fabian had abandoned his work in favor of moving closer to study my face. "You're alive and now you have a daughter. Isn't that good?"

How far it was from good. "That's the thing… when Nina brought me back she stepped into the Du'at… she was just supposed to stay on this end she was never supposed to be there."

"Eddie what happened?" Fabian's voice was turning into a growl as he pushed for the words that would make him hate me. "What happened when she crossed over?"

"See when we went into the Du'at together it was fine because we had godly help getting in," I knew I shouldn't be delaying, but I just needed more time to prepare myself. "But when Nina crossed over she did it all on her own. No one, not even the Chosen One, can do that without repercussion."

"What. Kind. Of. Repercussions?" With the clear diction of each syllable I knew Fabian had already decided I was in trouble without even knowing the full truth.

I felt my brows pull tight as I answered his question. "The thing I haven't told Nina is that that box in the Du'at, the one she must not touch under any circumstances, is a shadow box."

"Don't be ridiculous," Fabian cried stumbling back as he recognized the name. "Shadows aren't tangible subjects that can be bound by a box. They're just dark areas on the ground where light can reach because of some object blocking the path!"

"Fabian I have died twice now and our loved ones have been kidnapped by the sun goddess!" I reminded him. As much as I liked Fabian, it was frustrating that his sense of logic always seemed to override the fact that he'd seen just as much of Nina and my world as anyone else. "I think we're going to just have to trust those ancient Egyptians when they said that the soul has five parts. The Ib-your heart where your emotions are and what is weighed against the feather of truth."

"The Ba or your personality, your Ka which is what leaves you when you die, and your Ren slash secret name." I'd known Fabian, the historian, would have heard of this, but his lack of belief, despite everything we'd seen, still shocked me.

"That's only four," I reminded my friend weakly. "The final piece is your Sheut or your shadow. You wouldn't have notice it because you never look but Nina doesn't have a shadow. She hasn't since she brought me back. When she stepped into the Du'at to bring me out the parts of her affected by being the Chosen One were fine, but what you look like, which is what your Sheut represents, that has nothing to do with Nina being the Paragon. It wasn't affected by the curse so when it touched the Du'at it recognized as dead so now…"

"Now it's stuck there, in that shadow box," Fabian's voice was hoarse as he slid down the wall to the ground shocked and grieving. "How could I have been so thick! I should have noticed before that Nina had no shadow!"

"Don't beat yourself up about it, really, I didn't know until I became the Osirian again. It's just not something you pay attention to- a person's shadow."

"But what happens to Nina without it… I mean why does Raet even want Nina's shadow!"

I didn't know the answer to either of those questions, not really, but I answered with my gut instinct. (And since the problem was Nina's my gut was probably right.) "Pharaohs were said to have locked their shadows in boxes throughout Egypt… I think Nina is fine without her shadow she's just a bit less connected to this life and a bit more connected to the next." If it was the right piece, such as the sheut, you really could lose a part of your soul and live but to losemore than one piece… "the thing is shadow boxes are labeled with a person's their true name. When Nina saw her true name written her Ren recognized itself and another part of Nina's soul, so it too left her and stayed in the Du'at… I mean you really don't need your Ren either so it's not like there are any harmful qualities coming from her lack of these pieces but…"

"But 40% of Nina's soul has been in the Du'at for months now and the other parts are just more attracted. And the other parts… those she does need to survive." Fabian wasn't yelling yet, which I appreciated, but I could tell he was furious only to be finding this out now. Still, I couldn't risk it getting back to Nina that she was missing parts of her soul. Like I told Fabian the parts she was missing weren't necessarily necessary, but the "Harry Potter" nut would have a mental breakdown if she realized that 2/5ths of her were already dead.

I'm the boy who keeps dying, but it we didn't find the answer to our problem it wouldn't matter what Raet did to Nina because she was already half dead anyways.


	17. Chapter 17 House of Motherhood

Moral of the story... don't predict updates. Until May 20th or so I'm going to update when I can. Then i swear, swear, that I will update every day until this story is over.

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Chapter 17

House of Motherhood

Nina

I'm not going into the details of Alice's birth. After all, this is a story of death-my death, not a story of life.

All that needs to be said is that, besides my broken hand, everything about the birth was normal. Isis, being it her thing, was really helpful. (Just not helpful enough to keep Patricia from breaking my hand.) The goddess disappeared soon after the little girl's birth leaving me to face a doubting Patricia.

"Nina? What am I doing?" The voice I heard sounded like my best friend, but at the same time it…didn't. Patricia had always been the strongest one of Sibuna- our fearless and snarky friend. Yet, now her voice was soft and almost like a child herself.

"What do you mean?" I asked her gently moving to sit down besides her and the sleeping Alice. The small child was asleep as Isis had assured us was the norm. To keep the pre-mature child alive, Isis had put her in a trance state in which she'd continue growing as if in the womb. It wasn't a perfect solution, but as long as Patricia remained alive (which another spell should help with) Alice couldn't die.

"Look at her!" Patricia whispered softly. "She'll be asleep for months under Isis' spell and then when she wakes up… what if Eddie can't save us? Is she supposed to grow up down here? Alone with only me for company because Isis can't… because Isis can't protect you? She doesn't even get to have Godparents because I know there is no God in this world I trust!"

"You trust Isis," I reminded her despite knowing that that wasn't what she meant. Before I'd come to England and discovered my heritage as the Chosen One I'd believed in God. I wasn't a really devout person and hadn't even been Confirmed, but I believed there was a God I Heaven who'd started all of this and had to still care.

Now I wasn't so sure. If I'd been to the Afterlife how could I possibly believe in Heaven? This world I'd been thrust in to my Sophomore year of high school seemed to be all there was. This world was all I'd be getting and my death, if it came in a day's time or a million years, would come and I'd go to the Afterlife. Hopefully I'd done enough, saved enough, to go to the Field of Rushes, but who cares. There was no God, there was no Heaven, there was nothing other than the life we were living.

But that's not what Patricia wanted to hear. Patricia needed comfort and that could only be offered amongst lies. "Who is to say there isn't a God?"

Patricia seemed to think I was nuts as she responded, "The goddess Isis just delivered my child before using a spell to tie our life forces together. I'm pretty sure there is no God."

"You never know." Sure, every logical bone in my body agreed with her-God did not exist; yet, I still had that nagging part of my brain that wanted to believe. "Who's to say that God didn't just create the gods as another intelligent being or that the gods aren't fallen angels? Maybe what we saw when we visited Osiris' throne room was what we expected to see. Who's to say Osiris isn't actually Jesus in disguise? I'm not telling you that God exists, but I've think we should never rule anything out."

Patricia, for possibly the first time in her life, was speechless. Her mouth opened and closed like on a rusty hinge before she finally settled on words. "It doesn't matter anyway because if there is a God he's not coming to save us. He didn't stop me and my friends from being sucked into this world and he won't stop Alice from knowing these things too."

Ah. So that's what this was about. As fun as our mysteries had been at school, we were all tired of the constant fighting and danger. Our friends all got the chance to live a normal life, but Patricia wouldn't. She'd fallen in love with fire and now she wasn't the only one getting burned.

"Alice isn't the Osirian," I reminded my friend with a feigned smile. "This won't be her world."

"Look at us!" Patricia, despite losing her cool, remained still as a statue. Alice's spell would keep her sleeping through noise, but if Patricia started pacing and screaming, she'd wake up then. "She was born in a long forgotten part of the Alexandrian Library because a goddess, a GODDESS, made me go into labor early! You do realize how ridiculous this is! And even if she's normal… someday someone won't be. You, Eddie, Eric Sweet, and Alice are the only people on this earth with the blood of Asim. Maybe I don't have any more kids, but what about Alice's kids? Somehow or another I know my children will be dragged into this world. They'll face danger and terror and they'll die. But that won't even matter because you can only go so many days without water and then you'll die and who knows what will happen! KT is the only other person with Amnertis' blood so maybe she'll somehow become the Chosen One and then Alice still will be the Osirian! I don't know but I do know I can't let her live in this world."

"Patricia," my voice was cautionary as I realized this wasn't something she was saying in the heat of the moment. She'd thought about this many times before. "What are you planning on doing?"

Pure terror flushed Patricia's face as she looked at me with wild eyes. "I'm going to protect my child from this world by sending her away. As soon as we get out of here I'm giving her up for adoption. I'll leave her on the hospital steps with a note if I have to. She'll be safe from all of this."

Patricia would never… it would kill Eddie, "What… what would you tell Eddie? That she died?"

"If that's what I have to do," Patricia responded firmly. "I'm too selfish a person to leave him, Nina. I love him too darn much, but I love Alice more. If I have to lie to my husband for a hundred years I will if that means Alice is safe."

"I could tell him. I'd tell him what you did." I knew what it was like to grow up away from your parents. Even if you're raised by someone kind and loving there is just a gap you can't fill. Alice needed her parents and I could never hurt Eddie by letting him think Alice, his daughter, was dead before they met.

"No, Nina, you won't," Patricia whispered softly. "Because you're smart enough to know that the best place for her really is as far away from you as possible and so long as she's around Eddie she's around you."

My jaw fell as my resolve faded. Patricia wasn't trying to protect Alice from her father's word; Patricia was trying to protect Alice from my world. How many people's lives were ruined because of my presence? If I hadn't been around Gran would never have come to the door the day Isis was there. My parents would never have been in that car to die. If Gran hadn't taken me in then she would never have become the timepiece and never have been so weak she died. If I'd never come to England Eddie would never have known what he was. None of my friends would know of this world that destroyed friendships as well as pretenses.

And it was because of me that Alice had been born in a locked library and not a hospital bed. My presence was poison, but as long as I was the Chosen One Eddie would be where I was and Patricia where he was. So long as Alice was with Patricia she'd be with me and that… that was the worst possible place for her.


	18. Chapter 18 House of Sibuna

Fun fact: Schizophrenia and Creativity are both caused by the way the brain processes Dopamine... basically thinking out side the box is made by having a different box...

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Chapter 18

House of Sibuna

Eddie

"Is that your phone?"

Fabian's voice pierced my supernatural focus. Fabian had always been the studious one and I the one who couldn't pay attention, but 12 hours into our search for answers and we'd come up with nothing on why Raet might want Nina's shadow, or how to even give it to her. Still, I hadn't paused for a moment in hopeless gloom. Patricia, Alice, Nina-they needed me much more than I needed sleep or food or anything.

"Eddie," Fabian prompted. "I think your phone is ringing."

He was right; my phone had been going off the hook for a while now. Picking it up, I spoke gruffly, "Not a good time."

"Eddie?" Was that KT on the other end of the phone? I hadn't talked to her since I came to Egypt because of the ridiculous time difference between here and her New York City college. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine." It was very far away from fine, or course, but it was best if KT didn't know that Sibuna was still active… in a new, dangerous, form.

"He's lying!" I heard a voice cry from the background. Apparently I was on speaker phone and KT wasn't alone. At least Alfie was there too.

"Alfie?" Fabian spoke into the phone. "Why are you in America?"

"Why aren't you in England!" So Amber was in on this too. "Eddie we all have been waiting at the airport for you guys to show up. We thought you'd died!"

"No, I'm fine," I told them hurriedly. "Look. I just have a few things to tie up before coming home, okay. Thanks for the thought but… but it might be a while."

"Eddie, what's wrong," KT pressed. Besides Patricia, she was probably my best friend and it seemed I just couldn't get away with lying to her.

"Osirian stuff, okay?" I snapped despite it not being their fault any of this happened. It was all mine for coming to this horrible country. "I should never have let Nina go to Egypt!"

"But I thought you lost the Osirian thing…" Alfie recalled while I swore. I'd talked to the rest of Sibuna so little that they didn't even know of Nina and my trip to the Du'at.

"Well I got it back and now I have to go," I growled into the phone. I was about to hang up on them when Amber's voice pierced my smoky skull.

"We've already bought tickets. We'll be there to help soon… with whatever you need help with."

"Don't get on that plane. Go home, lock the doors, and don't trust anyone, okay. I don't want her to think that more leverage is better," there was a slight crack in my voice as I imagined my friends being plucked from the airport to whatever hole Raet already locked my family in.

Fabian, who could see I really just needed to get back to work, took the phone, "Hi guys, it's Fabian. Look there is a goddess who took Patricia and Nina as leverage so Eddie would find out how to open this box. Right now you're safe, but you can't come here no matter what. Raet's mad and if she thinks Eddie isn't doing his job she'll grab you too. Just please, stay where you are."

"I promise to look after them," my dad, who I hadn't even realized was there, said solemnly. "Just focus on saving them and don't let my son be a martyr again."

The phone went dim, but the distractions kept on coming. "So I wake up thinking you went back to England, when I hear Elena and Nile muttering about their mad alter-ego. We figured that whatever Raet was up to it had led you here." Elizabeth boldly said as she swept into the room Nile, Elena, and Justin behind her.

"Look, we're not going to fight Raet; it would be suicide," Elena pointed out with a shrug. "You don't live 5000 years by beinga martyr."

"What Elena is trying to say, but failing miserable at," Nile interjected. "Is that we can't fight ourself and expect to win. We can, however, offer you some info."

"Well I'm not living 3000 years no matter what, so I guess I can be a fool," Elizabeth's smile in such dire circumstances relieved some of the pain and fear I'd been bottling up in my heart.

"The only just course of action would be for me to help you," Justin flatly stated. "Raet is trying to overthrow years of tradition and peace. Know I will help you in your search, but will not do anything to risk upsetting Ma'at."

Typical scale all worried about his balance and order. Whatever, his reasons for helping I didn't really care-we needed all the help we could get.

"Look, I know she says it's the only way for you to get Nina and Patricia back, but you can't give Raet Nina's shadow." I was about to explode on Elena when she continued, "But I know that girl well enough into tricking her to free them before she gets her desired product."

"Um… I have a plan for how that would work," Fabian interrupted lifting his head from the book he'd been studying. "It says here that a shadow box can only be opened by the person it belongs to. We could show Raet that, have her free the girls, and then have Nina just not open the box."

The plan didn't sound very reliable, actually, I could think of a million things that would probably go wrong. Still, I didn't have any better ideas, so Fabian's plan it was.

"Well I'll go call the goddess then," I told them before stepping outside to summon Raet with our answers.


	19. Chapter 19 House of the Fool

Congratulations. You've won the award of my sole fan fiction. I've put everything on hold in the hope that I can get this story done this week since I'm on break ( but I have drivers ed so… not so sure how much time Ill have). Still, this is my lone story now and since I don't really have that much to write before Nina dies as I promised…. Enjoy! On a lighter note I seem to have forgotten the concept of the 4th wall… opps.

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Chapter 19

House the Fool

Nina

"Congratulations," Raet's insufferably perky voice broke through my churning thoughts. I'd spent all night placating my hunger and thirst with plans to keep Alice, Eddie, and Patricia together, but as the hours ticked by my survival instinct brought me to the point where I could think of nothing but the pain in my abdomen. Now, with her return, Raet had given me a new target to focus my thoughts on. "Your lovers figured out what I needed. You two," she pointed to Alice and Patricia, "are free to go. And since I heard what you said about giving up this dear child I'll drop you off at a local hospital."

Before I could release a cry begging Patricia to keep her daughter, my friend disappeared from our musty prison and I was left alone with Raet- goddess of the tanned. "If they're going home, then where are we going?"

Raet's smile was sickeningly sweet when she replied (sounding slightly like Glinda from "Wicked"), "You're going home too… the place where your heart resides."

Now I'm pretty sure my heart was underneath the ruined Library of Alexandria, but I'd learned in my day that when a goddess wants you to go with them you grab their hand and go. So I did, and that was my first mistake.

We landed in the exact place I expected-my room at Anubis house in England. I'd had many homes in my days, but that was by far where my heart resided.

We landed nowhere near what I expected- the Du'at.

In case you've already forgotten, the Du'at has multiple layers. One is the layer Eddie and I traveled through to meet Osiris, but another is parallel to the earth you see. I could be in my room at Anubis house, but if I was in the Du'at Trudy could come in and make the bed a million times without noticing me. One of the perks of being the Chosen One, a sort of bridge between Du'at and reality, is I could see both layers at once. So, despite her not seeing me, I very much saw Trudy, and it brought tears to my eyes. Looking at her one could almost forget that the world was cruel for people like me.

But as soon as I turned around and saw Raet holding the silver box with my secret name chiseled onto the lid, I remembered that life would have me until the day the Chosen One within me died.

"Is that what all of this has been about?" I scoffed trying to keep the raging fear within me under a tight leash. "You imprisoned Patricia and I making her HAVE HER BABY so Eddie would help you find a box?"

"Don't be foolish," a giddy Raet responded, "I knew where the box was always- right next to you. What I didn't know how to do was open it."

The box has no lock, something which I was very much tempted to point out. If the box was normal she could have just opened the lid with a flick of her thumb. Therefore, the box must not be normal (but the name that danced on its lid has already told me that.) "Let me guess," I finally began with a heavy sigh, "You need me to open the box because it belongs to me. But I'm not a fool and I'm not opening it without knowing why you want the contents, so start talking."

I should have kept my tone more level because the infuriated goddess' hands compressed my throat from across the room. The only thing that kept me alive was the fact that in the land of the dead you can't die… or so I would have thought.

I was wrong.

Raet's flaming anger finally ebbed enough for her to give me a single breath of stale air before a zipper replaced my lips. Scrambling I pulled at my face eyes wide in horror, but the bemused look on my face only amused Raet so I stopped struggling. My nose was open enough that I could breath- everything else was just a minor nuisance. "Do not forget who I am child," Raet warned. "You are the servant of the gods and I am a goddess. We both have our places and yours is at my feet. You're lucky I don't force you there."

I was s_o _i_n_c_r_e_d_i_b_l_y_ thankful not to be kneeling that I kept my mouth shut (because as I described above I had a choice in the matter.) Unable to snark or growl, I patiently waited for the natural villain instinct to kick in as Raet described her master plan to me. "What are you waiting for?" Raet growled kicking my knees so I fell to the ground kneeling before the chest. "Open it and discover what's inside for yourself."

Apparently I was a fool and Raet not a bragging villain because I slid my finger onto the glistening chest without a second thought before falling over in agony as a dark shadow encompassed my body.


	20. Chapter 20 House of Alone

Anyone a Doctor Who fan? Just think Doomsday while reading this…Also, from now on we're back to only Nina's POV… also… the pool thing… let's just say I have issues.

Chapter 20

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House of Alone

Have you ever fallen into an unopened pool on Easter in New England? If you haven't you won't understand the feeling of being plunged into freezing cold only to come up to air that once felt warm, but now only helps push the chill deeper into your bones. When I finally pried my eyes open that is how I felt. The Du'at before me had disappeared and I found myself in my dorm back in Egypt. Someone (probably Eddie since I don't know who else could have brought me out of the Du'at) had placed me in my bed, and I was so cold I refused to get out from under my sheets despite knowing I needed answers.

The silver box with my name on it worked almost as if it was me. I was attracted to it the way one is attracted to their own fundamental nature. I'd known I should not touch it, should not give Raet what she wanted, but the box brought down my inhabitations and Raet only pushed me forwards. If the chill that surrounded me said anything, something had gone wrong, but I was so cold I couldn't possibly get out of bed. Not even the wafting smell of waffles could draw me from my covers.

"Fabian! Eddie! I'm awake and need to talk to you." Assuming they had been the ones who brought me here they must be downstairs waiting for me to awake. Obviously they'd thought I'd be out longer, because it was quite unlike my boys not to have both of them at my side the second I woke up. Waking up alone was a shock.

Since I didn't hear any thundering footsteps as my friends came to greet me, I once again called. When I still wasn't getting a response, I finally gave up and, despite the chill hovering at the base of my spine, moved to go downstairs.

The waffles I'd smelt only moments before cooking to perfection were now in the pan burning. Nile, Elena, Elizabeth, Justin, Patricia, Eddie, and Fabian all crowded around the one table stains lining their face where only the tears had wiped away the grime. Calling again I tried to alert them to my presence, only to discover they still weren't responding.

"What you're thinking is correct," Anubis, who'd appeared besides me, confirmed. "They can't hear you because you're still in the Du'at."

Looking around I scanned the kitchen for the little ripples I could grab as the Chosen One to pass from one side to the other. These ripples always assured me of what side I was on because in the Du'at they held a green tint. Now, however, I saw nothing. "This doesn't look like the Du'at," I dumbly stated. (Because arguing with a god surely would turn out well.)

"Nina there's something you need to know…" An always awkward Anubis began running his fingers through a pile of messy hair. Before he could continue, however, it was Elena who spoke.

"Look on the bright side, Raet lost the shadow so she lost everything. From what I'm hearing she's retreated into the shadows afraid what her failed bid for power might mean. Horus is furious and said that if he saw her again for a century she'd be meeting Apophis before the sun chariot rose again."

Apparently, whatever had them down was not just going to be forgotten because I somehow defeated Raet by releasing a shadow, whatever that meant, because Fabian threw his chair to the ground and stormed out of the room. Dashing after him I screamed into his ear that I was right here, but he didn't seem to hear me. I felt the wall of separation invisible between us. We both were there, right on the other side, but we just couldn't reach each other. I could place my hand on his cool chest, but he couldn't feel it. I was a ghost in my own realm.

The minute the word ghost passed through my mind panic took hold and I dashed to the bathroom to vomit. Trembling, I barely noticed Anubis creeping up to my side a sympathetic look decorating his face. "Nina I was trying to tell you…"

"I'm dead," my voice came out shaky as I covered my mouth in shock. "That's why I can't find the other side of the Du'at, because I'm no longer the Chosen One, I'm dead. I don't, I can't…" Anubis tilted his head sympathy flying from him in every direction. "Anubis, please tell me it isn't true."

"I promised to never lie to you Nina," the god softly murmured, "and as a man of my word I can't tell you that. That box… it was a shadow box. It contained a part of your soul untouched by your Chosen One spirit. It is just as human as anything else. When you pulled Eddie back to life after Anet killed him, you left your shadow here in the Du'at… it was no big deal, but your shadow was stuck here. When you opened the box, your shadow re-attached to you preventing you from leaving. I don't know if I would call you dead because your ka is still within you, but you're stuck, in the Du'at."

"But there has to be something you can do!" Anubis was a god. He ruled the Du'at. "You or Osiris or somebody must be able to send me back! Disconnect my shadow again or… I need to be back with Fabian."

Anubis pulled me into a tight hug while the tremors in my body became too much for me to stand-alone. "Shhh," he whispered in my ear rocking me like a child. "We'll figure something out. I'll get you back to him."

Once my legs stopped acting as jell-o, Anubis released me so I could go and sit back on the bed next to Fabian. As if the thought of being forever separated wasn't bad enough, I felt his grief like a knife. At least I could see my love, stay by his side, hear his cool voice. Fabian didn't even know I was here.

"You can pass through!" I cried jumping up from the bed and running so my hands rested on Anubis' biceps. "You can tell him I'm okay and here so he won't worry… you can tell him I love him and will be back."

"Nina," Anubis' grip was tight as he forced me to pull my eyes away from the love of my life. "I can't go to him. He can't see me and with you dead Eddie is no longer the Osirian. There is no Osirian anymore because… because I refuse to pick a new Chosen One. I refuse to believe I can't get you back."

"But he has to know I'm okay," I pleaded wiping a tear from my eye. "He has to know I love him."

"Don't be a fool. He doesn't need me to tell him that to know," Anubis comforted. "But you can't stay here Nina. It's not safe for you to be alone in the Du'at without powers over death. Come back with me to the throne room. I won't send you over to the other side, but you can stay by my side until we figure out how to get you home… and we will figure out how to get you home.

"I can't leave him," I repeated, though I knew Anubis was right. Still, the idea of leaving Fabian's side, even when he couldn't know of my presence, was like the final dagger that killed Caesar.

"You're not leaving, leaving implies a sense of finality. You're just lighting the fire so when he returns to you the house is already warm."

Anubis wasn't giving me a choice. I might no longer be his Chosen One, but I had no doubt that he loved me as much as a god can love. He'd have thrown me over his shoulder and dragged me to the throne room if need be. With a final, guilty, glance at the boy whom I'd caused so much pain, I stepped into the darkness of the Du'at the prince of Death at my side.

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Okay… I never planned on ending it here, but I think this means 2 shorter sequels. The first one will probably be written this week, because when I say short I mean short, but like I said this is a story of Nina's death, and the next can be a story of her fight for life. Thank you very much my friends for your endurance. If you're reading this it means a lot to me.


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